"We advise and insist that this warship not return to its former base in the Persian Gulf," Brigadier General Ataollah Salehi told reporters, according to the armed forces website.
"We don`t have the intention of repeating our warning, and we warn only once," he was quoted as saying.
The warning came just one day after Iran`s navy completed 10 days of manoeuvres at the entrance to the Gulf with the test-firing of three missiles designed to sink warships.
The aircraft carrier Salehi was referring to was the USS John C. Stennis, one of the US navy`s biggest warships.
The US vessel last week passed through the Strait of Hormuz heading east across the Gulf of Oman and through a zone where the Iranian navy was holding its manoeuvres. The US Defence Department said the passage was "routine".
The United States keeps at least one aircraft carrier in or near the Gulf at all times, on rotations of weeks or months. It maintains the base of its Fifth Fleet in the Gulf state of Bahrain.
It was not immediately known if the USS John C. Stennis was scheduled to return to the Gulf, or if it was to be replaced by another of the United States` 11 aircraft carriers.
The carrier left its home base in the western US state of Washington in late July last year on a seven-month deployment that included operations in the Gulf, according to US navy websites.
Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if it is attacked or if Western sanctions cripple its oil exports. Some 20 percent of the world`s oil flows through the strait.
The United States has warned it will not tolerate a closure of the strategic channel.
Adding to the tensions, Iran`s Revolutionary Guards, whose maritime division handles military operations in the strait and the Gulf, are soon to hold their own manoeuvres in the area soon, according to armed forces chief-of-staff General Hassan Firouzabadi.
"Manoeuvres are part of the programme Iran`s navy and Revolutionary Guards hold each year to increase their preparation. We will soon show the massive might of the Guards` naval forces," Firouzabadi was quoted as saying by Fars news agency.
AFP
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
