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No plans for Gulf military exercises: Iran official

Media reports had suggested Iran's Revolutionary Guards planned exercises in the Strait of Hormuz. (AP PHOTO)

The naval forces ‍of Iran's Revolutionary Guards have no ​plan to carry out ⁠live-fire exercises in the Strait of Hormuz as reported by some media outlets earlier ‌this week, ​an Iranian official says.

Iran's state-run Press TV reported on Thursday that the force would carry out ​the exercises ‌in the Strait of Hormuz on February ​1 and February ‍2.

"There was no plan for the Guards ​to ​hold military ​exercises there and there ​was no official announcement about it. Only media reports which were wrong," the official told Reuters on Sunday.

The comments came after US and Israeli ‍generals held talks at the Pentagon on Friday amid ​tensions with Iran, two US officials told ⁠Reuters on Sunday speaking on condition of anonymity.

The officials did not offer details about the closed-door discussions between US General Dan Caine, the chairman ‌of the Joint ​Chiefs of Staff, and Eyal Zamir, the ‍Israeli armed forces chief of staff.

The meeting has not been previously reported.

The United States has ramped up its naval presence and hiked its air ​defences in the Middle ‌East after US President Donald Trump repeatedly pressured Iran. 

Iran's leadership ‍warned on Sunday of a regional conflict if the US were to attack it.

Israeli ​Defence ​Minister Israel Katz ​on Sunday met with Zamir ​after his talks in Washington DC, Katz's office said, to review the situation in the region and the Israeli military's "operational readiness for any possible scenario".

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