The 18 small boats that were spotted by satellite sailing alongside American navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month were Iranian ships, the US military has confirmed.

The images taken by commercial satellites on December 4 show the Iranian boats shadowing the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln as well as two other vessels in the carrier strike group - the USS Leyte Gulf and the destroyer USS Farragut.

The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic stretch of the Persian Gulf. It serves as the passageway for nearly a third of all oil traded by sea.

Tensions in the Gulf have risen since attacks on oil tankers this summer, including off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, and a major assault on energy facilities in Saudi Arabia.

The image above shows some 18 boats sailing alongside three US Navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on December 4

The US military has confirmed that the small boats were Iranian vessels

The photographs show the Iranian boats following the American strike group as it sailed 20 miles northwest of Oman’s Musandam Peninsula and 30 miles from Iran’s Qeshm Island

Washington has blamed Iran, which has denied orchestrating the attacks on global energy infrastructure.

In response, the US has deployed thousands of additional military forces to the Middle East, including bombers and air defense personnel to act as a deterrent against what Washington says is provocative Iranian behavior.

The Abraham Lincoln strike group was deployed to the region in late November in response to the rising tensions.

On December 4, the Farragut was photographed leading the three-ship group while the Lincoln sailed behind it. The Leyte Gulf was further behind the Lincoln.

The photographs show the Iranian boats following the American strike group as it sailed 20 miles northwest of Oman’s Musandam Peninsula and 30 miles from Iran’s Qeshm Island, according to War Zone.

The images were circulated on social media, fueling speculation about what exactly happened.

Pro-Iranian media outlets even used the images to claim in news stories that Iran’s vessels ‘harassed’ or ‘escorted’ the American ships out of the Persian Gulf.

But the US military says that the activity in the strait that day was within ‘normal behavior patterns.’

The US military is denying claims by pro-Iranian media outlets that the Iranian boats 'harassed' the American vessels. The image above shows a sailor assigned to a patrol boat attached to an escort transit of the USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast of Bahrain on December 2

‘During the transit, multiple Iranian vessels followed the US ships through the strait,’ US Navy Commander Joshua Frey, a public affairs officer for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), told the War Zone.

‘Their activity was within normal behavior patterns for Iran and did not threaten the Abe [Abraham Lincoln] strike group.’

Most of the Iranian boats seen in the satellite images were in neat formation to the rear of the Lincoln.

A few of the Iranian boats could be seen getting quite close to the US vessels. In some cases, boats were sailing approximately 1,000 feet away.

There were no other American or Allied vessels sailing with the Navy ships. A commercial oil tanker can be seen a few hundred yards in front of the carrier strike group.

When asked if the Iranian boats ‘harassed’ or carried out other provocative actions toward the American vessels, Frey replied: ‘No.’

He added: ‘Interaction between US and Iranian vessels was limited to routine queries via bridge to bridge radio.’

In August, Iran's military shared a video in which they claimed to be pursuing a Royal Navy destroyer, only for experts to reveal it was most likely a UAE vessel.

The Islamic Republic's armed forces shared a video in which they said they were pursuing the HMS Duncan.

Footage showed gunboats giving chase to a warship that can be seen sailing in the distance.

In August, the Iranian military released footage (right) claiming that its boats were in hot pursuit of the HMS Duncan (left). Those claims now appear to be incorrect

But it is thought they were actually racing after a United Arab Emirates ship they mistook for a British vessel.

Conflict News Worldwide tweeted the original video and have since shared corrected the claim of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

In September of last year, Iran’s state TV broadcast footage purporting to show a close encounter between the Revolutionary Guard’s navy and the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt early this year.

The Revolutionary Guard Corps’ naval component is said to include a number of speedboats as well as smaller craft armed with anti-ship missiles and semi-submersibles that can carry mines and torpedoes.

The US has accused the Revolutionary Guards of using small boats to attack commercial oil tankers with limpet mines in the Gulf of Oman.

PressTV’s website says the encounter occurred on March 21, 2018, in the Strait of Hormuz.

The TV agency says the video was aired Saturday as part of a documentary.

In the video, Guard speedboats are seen closing in on the U.S. carrier.

Iranian sailors then warn the Americans over radio communication to ‘keep well clear’ of the Guard patrol boats and say they advise the Americans to ‘refrain from the threat or use of force in any manner.’

In September of last year, Iran state television released footage claiming to be of Iranian boats harassing the USS Theodore Roosevelt (seen in the above stock image off the coast of Europe in March 2015)

In October of last year, an Iranian anti-ship armed with cruise missiles sailed within 300 yards of the USS Essex amphibious assault vessel while then-head of US Central Command, US Army General Joseph Votel, was on board.

‘I think they're trying to watch what we're doing, they're trying to understand what's happening out here, they're trying to characterize it to fulfill their own [intelligence] collection responsibilities,’ Votel told reporters at the time.

Tensions between the United States and Iran appear to have risen in recent days.

The Pentagon on Sunday announced that US forces conducted ‘precision defensive strikes’ against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.

The American military said it struck weapon storage facilities and command and control locations operated by the Kata’ib Hizbollah.

The strikes came in response to a recent rocket attack on an Iraqi base near Kirkuk, which resulted in the death of an American citizen.

Four American servicemembers and two members of the Iraqi security forces were wounded in the attack, according to the Pentagon.