According to satellite images released on Monday, Iran has moved a dummy U.S. aircraft carrier to the Strait of Hormuz, likely for use in live-fire war games.
One of the images, taken by the U.S. firm Maxar Technologies on Sunday, shows an Iranian attack boat moving quickly toward a model U.S. aircraft carrier with dummy airplanes on its deck, reported Reuters.
Iran has previously used fake American warships during training by its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its navy and often holds naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the oil traded worldwide passes.
Iran could carry out “provocative actions” in the Strait of Hormuz and in other locations in the region, acting U.S. Navy Secretary Thomas Modly told Reuters in a report published in December.
“I think they’re going to continue to perform provocative actions over there ... and I think they’ll look at every opportunity they can to do that,” said Modly, without elaborating.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is attempting to establish a new permanent base in the Gulf of Oman and the entry to the Indian Ocean, said its top admiral in June.
