A defense official informed Fox News Digital that claims regarding an interaction between a U.S. Navy warship and an Iranian helicopter being “unsafe and unprofessional” were falsehoods propagated by the Islamic Republic.

The incident occurred when the USS Fitzgerald, navigating international waters off the Gulf of Oman, encountered an Iranian SH-3 “Sea King” helicopter at approximately 10:50 a.m. on Wednesday.

Iranian state media reported that the helicopter instructed the U.S. guided-missile destroyer to change course. 

The helicopter reportedly flew swiftly over the destroyer and delivered a stern command for the vessel to vacate the vicinity. In reaction, it is alleged that the U.S. destroyer issued a threat to the Iranian helicopter, yet the pilot persisted with the mission and repeated the warning.

Following the renewed U.S. threat, the Iranian army’s defense system took action and announced that the helicopter was under full defense cover and the destroyer had to change its course, it said. The warship then left the area, the report said. 

The incident came amid heightened tension between the U.S. and Iran and weeks after U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.