Iranian armed forces destroyed a model of an American aircraft carrier with missiles on Tuesday (July 28) during military exercises in Gulf waters south of Iran, state television reported. The exercises, called " Prophet Mohammed 14 ", took place near the Strait of Hormuz, an important shipping lane especially for oil tankers.
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These maneuvers come as tensions between Washington and Tehran continue to grow, especially since the United States' unilateral withdrawal in 2018 from the Iranian international nuclear deal and the reinstatement of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
An aerospace and naval attack
Iranian ground and air forces prepared for an attack off the coast in the southwest of the country, according to images broadcast on state television. Speedboats were responsible for firing and launching rockets at the aircraft carrier. Subsequently, surface-to-sea missiles targeted and destroyed the false transporter.
The mock-up of a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier then appeared with rows of fake fighter jets visible on either side of its airstrip. State television cut footage to show rockets fired into the sea from the backs of trucks, before showing damage to the hull of the mock aircraft carrier. Another missile fired from a helicopter leaves a trail of smoke before crashing into the side of the fake warship Nimitz.
Armed forces were then seen descending onto the deck of the ship, as a dozen speedboats surrounded it. " What was shown today in these exercises, at the level of the aerospace and naval forces, was quite offensive, " said General Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guards, ideological army of the Islamic Republic.
