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Iran warns off a foreign helicopter near naval maneuvers

Iranian officials do not say what nation the helicopter belongs to

CNN  — 

Iran’s Navy ordered a helicopter from an unspecified foreign country to leave to leave the area of maneuvers it is conducting in the Persian Gulf, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported Monday.

“The helicopter ignored the first two warnings but left the area after the third and severe warning,” Fars quoted Rear Adm. Seyed Mahmoud Musavi, the deputy commander of operations for Iran’s Navy, as saying.

The incident occurred Sunday, according to Fars.

Fars only described the helicopter as belonging to a foreign country outside the Middle East region.

The drills are the largest ever planned by Iran and are being staged in an area that stretches from the eastern part of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to the the Gulf of Aden, Fars reported last week.

The maneuvers began on Saturday.