ABOARD THE USS JOHN C. STENNIS IN THE PERSIAN GULF (AP) — — A U.S. aircraft carrier has sailed into the Persian Gulf, becoming the first since America's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and breaking the longest carrier absence in the volatile region since at least the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The arrival Friday of the USS John C. Stennis comes as Iranian officials have returned to repeatedly threatening to close off the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil traded by sea passes.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels shadowed the aircraft carrier and its strike group. They launched a drone, as well as test-fired rockets away from the aircraft carrier and its strike group.