U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said Thursday there have been no provocations from Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf in several months.
Navy Cmdr. William Urban told The Associated Press that there have been no “unsafe and unprofessional” gestures from the Iranian navy in the region since August
{mosads}“It seems like they’ve absolutely made a conscious decision to give us more space,” Urban told the news service. “That is definitely a change in their behavior.”
The Navy said 14 “unsafe and/or unprofessional” encounters between the two forces took place in the eight months in 2017 leading up to August.
The last negative encounter between Iranian and U.S. naval forces took place that month, when the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier was followed at night by an unarmed Iranian drone. The aircraft moved close enough to U.S. F/A-18 fighter jets to put the pilot’s lives in danger, officials said.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have increased under the Trump administration.
President Trump has repeatedly blasted the Obama-era Iranian nuclear deal as “the worst deal ever negotiated,” and moved last year to decertify Iran’s compliance.
The Trump administration also sided with anti-government protests in Iran late last year and early this year and pledged to support them.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley also accused Tehran last year of supplying arms to Yemeni rebels in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.