The U.S. Navy Is Denying Reports That Iranian Drones Chased Away A U.S. Destroyer Near The Gulf of Oman

An MH-60R Sea Hawk approaches USS Higgins (DDG-76) during a vertical replenishment on Jan. 13, 2018. US Navy Photo

USNI News: U.S. Navy Denies Iranian Drones Chased Away Destroyer Near Gulf of Oman

Navy officials are pushing back against claims that a U.S. destroyer was chased away from an Iranian military combined exercise in the Gulf of Oman by naval forces.

On Monday, Iranian state-controlled press reported that Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles chased away a U.S. ship and another warship that were too closely monitoring two days of exercises near the Makran coast, close to the Gulf of Oman.

“This morning and in the first hours of the drills, two warships of the coalition which had approached the drills zone to monitor the Iranian Navy units were identified by the Navy drones,” Rear Admiral Seyed Mahmoud Moussavi told the state-controlled Fars news service.

“After declaring the issue to the drills’ tactical base, the patrolling and reconnaissance planes flew over the coalition warships and warned them and the warships left the drills zone.”

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Update: Iran Says Its Warplanes Warned Off Two U.S. Coalition Vessels During Militarty Drills (January 23, 2018)

WNU Editor: The U.S. Navy is claiming that they only message they got from the Iranians was this .... US Navy says it received Iran broadcast about naval exercise (Navy Times/AP).