Photos taken by US intelligence have indicated that Iran had placed cruise missiles on small boats in the Arabian Gulf that could strike ships and land targets, according to a US official who spoke to ABC News.
According to the unnamed official, the photos have suggested a threat to ships belonging to the US and its regional allies and was one of several factors that led Washington’s hastened deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group to the Middle East.
The Pentagon is currently working on declassifying and releasing the images which showed two Iranian boats loaded with cruise missiles, according to US media outlets.
Tensions have escalated in recent days, with growing concerns about a potential US-Iran conflict. Earlier this week the United States pulled some diplomatic staff from its embassy in Baghdad following weekend attacks on four oil tankers in the Gulf.
“Even our short-range missiles can easily reach (US) warships,” Mohammad Saleh Jokar, the deputy for parliamentary affairs of the elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), was quoted by Fars news agency as saying.
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