Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States of hypocrisy over its military buildup near Iran, posting on X on January 31 that the US was attempting to dictate how Iran's armed forces conducted exercises in their own waters.

Araghchi pointed out the geographic distance between the two nations, noting that while the US was located in the Western Hemisphere, Iran's borders were thousands of miles away, using a low-quality image.

He highlighted the Strait of Hormuz, where US Central Command had requested "professionalism" from a national military that the US government had listed as a "terrorist organisation," while at the same time recognising the right of that same organisation to conduct military drills.

"This is the level of absurdity the world is now facing, and which European governments have actively decided to embrace," Araghchi wrote.

The foreign minister defended the Islamic Revolutionary Guards' (IRGC) role in the region, saying it had always been the protector of peace and stability in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

He warned that the presence of outside forces in the region had historically done the opposite of what was declared, promoting escalation rather than de-escalation.

Araghchi also stressed that freedom of navigation and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz were of vital importance to both Iran and its neighbours.

The post came as the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group continued to operate in the region and Iran conducted its own live-fire naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz on January 31.