Iran says its navy forced US submarine to surface as it enters the Gulf

 Iran's navy forced a US submarine to the surface as it entered the Gulf, Iranian navy commander Shahram Irani told state television on Thursday, in the latest report of an apparent confrontation between Iranian and US forces in the Gulf.

"The US submarine was approaching while submerged, but the Iranian submarine Fateh detected it and carried out... maneuvers to force it to surface as it went through the Strait (of Hormuz). It had also entered into our territorial waters but ... it corrected its course after being warned," Irani said.

"This submarine was doing its best, using all its capacities, to pass in total silence and without being detected," Irani said. "We will certainly reflect international bodies the fact that it had violated our border."

The US Navy said earlier this month the nuclear-powered, guided-missile submarine Florida was operating in the Middle East in support of its fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.

The US Navy's Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, denied what it called Iranian "disinformation."

"A US submarine has not transited the Strait of Hormuz today or recently," Commander Timothy Hawkins told Reuters.

Iranian and US forces have had a number of confrontations in the past. In early April, the Iranian navy said it identified and warned off a US reconnaissance plane outside the mouth of the Gulf. In 2019, Iran shot down a US drone that it said was flying over southern Iran.