Iranian Navy warns off a US Navy aircraft flying over Sea of Oman; Report

On Sunday, the Iranian forces claimed that it had warned off a US Navy EP-3E aircraft after it attempted to enter the country’s border. According to the Iranian news outlet, Tasnim News, the aircraft allegedly attempted to infiltrate the Iranian border which is close to the Gulf of Oman. As per the report by the News outlet, the Iranian Navy detected the aircraft flying over the Sea of Oman and forced it to avoid the country's airspace by issuing warnings. The relations between the US and Iran have deteriorated significantly over the span of decades. 

According to Tasnim News, Iran Navy’s public relations department asserted on Sunday afternoon that the EP-3E aircraft of the US Navy heeded the warning and stayed away from the Iranian airspace. The aircraft later flew away from the Iranian aerial border and returned to the international routes. The aircraft in question is the EP-3E land-based multi-intelligence reconnaissance aircraft which is based on the P-3 Orion airframe. According to the US Navy description, the aircraft is not that upgraded to take the multi-intelligence role, however, the Iranian bloc is still considering it a US spy plane.

A two-way street

According to Iran International, the Iranian naval forces occasionally harass the US Navy vessels in the Persian Gulf region. Sometimes armed Iranian speedboats approach dangerously close to the US ships. On some occasions, the US forces have even fired warning shots to shoo off the speedboats. Hence major altercations between the two nations in this region have been avoided time and time again. As per the report by Iran International, the US and British navies have also restricted several flagged vehicles in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, alleging that they were transporting weapons from Iran to Houthi fighters in Yemen. The recent incident solidifies the belief that the tensions between the two nations still persist.