Iran says it will counter US presence in its waters by sending ships to the international waters off the US coast, says Iranian Navy chief Admiral Sayyari.

No specifics were mentioned, but during an interview broadcast on state TV, Sayyari said the plans were aimed for “the next few years.”

In the past two years Iran has broadened the range of its navy, sending ships to the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Sayyari did not deny that the proposed measure was a response to the increase in the number of US vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil passageway off the coast of Iran, which Tehran previously threatened to shut off.

“We will not allow anyone to trespass our country’s waters. There is no need for anyone else to establish security in our region,” said Sayyari.

The US Fifth Fleet is currently located in Bahrain, on the southern coast of the Strait of Hormuz.

More than a third of all the seaborne oil in the world passes through the narrow waterway.