Earlier this year, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s Navy, stated that the Islamic Republic “has full control” of the Persian Gulf and that it “dominates the entire waters” there.
The Tasnim news agency has published a video of what it described as an Iranian Navy combat helicopter’s flyover of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex in the Persian Gulf.
In the 42-second clip, the USS Essex, also known as a Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD-2), is seen from the cockpit of the Iranian chopper carrying out a “reconnaissance flight” over the US warship, according to the Iranian news outlet.
The footage also showed USS Essex’s radar apparently activated as the helicopter is seen flying in close proximity to the ship.
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The video comes amid simmering tensions between Tehran and Washington in the Gulf, which have been in place since 2018, when then-President Donald Trump announced Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, also reinstating harsh economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The tensions escalated in January 2020 following the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)’s elite Quds Force, who was killed in a US drone strike near the Baghdad International Airport.
