TEHRAN: Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) warned Saudi naval vessels taking part in military exercises in the Gulf on Wednesday not to get close to Iranian waters, in a sign of heightened tensions between the two regional rivals.
Saudi Arabia began naval war games including live fire exercises on Tuesday in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil route.
Tehran and Riyadh are fighting several proxy wars in the Middle East, including in Syria and Yemen, but both have been cautious about direct military confrontation.
"The Revolutionary Guards naval forces believe this war game is mainly to create tension and destabilise the Persian Gulf," the IRGC said in a statement published on Tasnim news agency.
About 17 million barrels per day, or about 30 percent of all seaborne-traded oil, passed through the Strait of Hormuz in 2013, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The United States, the kingdom's leading non-Arab ally, said in August and September that IRGC vessels "harassed" U.S. warships several times in the Gulf in incidents that Washington described as "unsafe and unprofessional."
Winter snowfall is heaviest since records began in 1907, reports Korean local media.
IAEA’s resolution urged Iran to "fulfil its legal obligations" under Non-Proliferation Treaty ratified in 1970
Lee Zeldin, Trump's pick for Environmental Protection Agency, said his home was targeted with pipe bomb threat
FBI says aware of "numerous bomb threats" and swatting incidents
Prosecutor says reasonable grounds to believe Min Aung Hlaing is responsible for "crimes against humanity"
Jay Bhattacharya is widely known for opposing widespread lockdowns when cases of COVID-19 started to spike in US
