DUBAI • Iran successfully tested a cruise missile yesterday during naval exercises near the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's state media reported, at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.

Teheran has, in the past, threatened to block the strait, a major oil shipping route at the mouth of the Gulf, in retaliation for any hostile US action, including attempts to halt Iranian oil exports through sanctions.

In August, Washington said Iran had test-fired a short-range anti-ship missile in the strait during naval drills it believed were intended as a warning following President Donald Trump's decision to reimpose sanctions on Teheran.

"On the third day of the... exercises, a Ghadir-class Iranian navy submarine successfully launched a cruise missile," the official news agency Irna reported.

Iran's other submarines, the Tareq and the new domestically built Fateh, have the same anti-ship capability, Irna quoted a military statement as saying.

More than 100 vessels were taking part in the ongoing three-day war games in a vast area stretching from the Strait of Hormuz to the Indian Ocean, state media reported.

Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards yesterday accused "enemies" of Iran of trying to sabotage the country's missiles so that they would "explode mid-air" but said the bid was foiled.

"They tried as best as they could to sabotage a small part, which we import, so that our missiles would not reach their target and explode mid-air," Fars news agency reported, quoting Guards aerospace commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh. He did not name any specific country.

Iran's expansion of its missile programme has been met with expressions of concern by the US and European countries.

Teheran says the programme is meant to be defensive in nature.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE