Iranian missiles land within 20 miles of ship, 100 miles from Nimitz strike group

Long-range missiles from Iran splashed roughly 100miles from the Nimitz aircraft carrier, hitting close to a commercial ship in the Indian Ocean. 

At least one missile landed 20 miles from the commercial vessel, according to anonymous U.S. officials who would not provide further info about the ship. 

Iran does typically test missiles and one source did share with Fox News that the projectile did not cause alarm and was a fairly standard routine exercise. 

Another source said that the close proximity to the commercial vessel was concerning but not seen as a threat.

At least two Iranian ballistic missiles exploded on impact as they hit the ocean, causing debris to fly in all directions.     

‘We were expecting the missile launch,’ one official said.

The concern stems from last May, when the Iranian Navy said that more than a dozen people died during training when one of their warships got hit by a missile. 

American spy satellites did track the missile launch from the Islamic Republic, but it is unclear if the Nimitz aircraft carrier tracked the launch. 

Nimitz has been positioned in the northern Arabian Sea on President Trump’s order through the inauguration. The Nimitz was ordered not to return home by the Pentagon this month, instead told to remain in the area. 

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that its’ long-range ballistic missiles fired off Saturday morning and flew more than 1,000 miles into the northern portion of the Indian Ocean.  

In recent days, Iranian forces have been conducting a series of military exercises. Those have included firing cruise missiles from Southeast Iran into the sea. 

Earlier this week, an American guided-missile submarine submarine armed with more than 150 Tomahawk cruise missiles stalked near the Iranian naval exercises near the Strait of Hormuz as a show of force.

An Iranian helicopter filmed the USS Georgia, which had the submarine creeping beside it at periscope depth. When it was released in Iran, the video appeared to make the submarine look like a man-made Great White shark.

The missile launches by Iran come days after the one-year anniversary of Iran firing ballistic missiles at a base in Iraq that was housing American troops. While none were killed, 100 did suffer head injuries. 

The attack from Iran came five days after the death of the country’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by U.S. forces in Baghdad while leaving the airport. 

Iran has released recent vi
deos about the killing of Soleimani and the drone strike that was ordered by President Trump. 

More than 20 rockets were fired at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad in December – the largest attack on the compound in a decade, according to officials. 

There was some concern that Iran would retaliate on the one year anniversary of the killing of Soleimani.