WASHINGTON – The US military carried out freedom of navigation operations challenging the maritime claims of China, Iran and 10 other nations last year, asserting its right to use the seas in defiance of their restrictions, a Pentagon report said Thursday.
The Defense Department’s annual Freedom of Navigation Report to Congress for the 2013 fiscal year showed the US military targeted not only countries such as Iran, with whom it has no formal relations, but treaty allies like the Philippines, too.
The US military conducted multiple operations targeting China over what Washington believes are “excessive” claims about its maritime boundaries and its effort to force foreign warships to obtain permission before peacefully transiting its territorial seas.