Iranian patrols shadow US aircraft carrier as it exits Gulf

Iranian patrol boats and aircraft shadowed a US aircraft carrier strike group as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz yesterday.

The passage ended a Gulf mission that displayed western naval power amid heightened tensions with Tehran, which has threatened to cut off the Strait’s vital oil shipping lanes.

The nuclear-powered carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was the centre of a flotilla that entered the Gulf last month along with British and French warships in a display of Western unity against Iranian threats.

Two American warships escorted the carrier on its midday journey through the Strait and into the Arabian Sea after nearly three weeks in the Gulf.

Rear Admiral Troy Shoemaker, commander of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Force, said that just after the ship rounded the “knuckle” – the nub of Oman jutting out at the southern end of the Strait – an Iranian patrol plane flew overhead. Another patrol boat was waiting further down the coast.

He predicted before the passage that the Iranians would keep a close eye on the Lincoln throughout its passage, including with ground-based radars. He wasn’t surprised by the attention from Iranian forces, saying: “We would do the same things off the coast of the United States … It’s more than reasonable. We’re operating in their backyard. We’ve been doing it for years.”

Several US helicopters flanked the carrier group throughout the passage, watching out for potentially hostile vessels, and dozens of F/A-18 strike fighters and other planes in the carrier’s air wing sat parked on deck throughout the trip – some armed, ready for launch.