Speaking after the passage of the USS Stennis through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Persian Gulf, a senior Iranian defence official argued that "the presence of this [U.S.] fleet is not important for us since it can do nothing against us... we will never let the fleet come near Iran's territorial waters". In related remarks, an IRGC spokesperson assessed that "in the past ten months, due to the absence of an American [aircraft] carrier in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, we witnessed increased security and calmness and reduced incidents in this strategic area".