TEHRAN – Iran’s national TV on Saturday broadcast footage of a close encounter between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy and the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, the passageway for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea.

The footage comes amid new U.S. sanctions on Iran and the Trump administration plans to bring Iranian oil exports down to zero. In the video, the IRGC’s speedboats are seen closing in on the U.S. carrier.

Iranian sailors then warn the Americans over radio communication to “keep well clear” of the IRGC’s patrol boats and say they advise the Americans to “refrain from the threat or use of force in any manner.”

MH/PA