The U.S. Navy says one of its aircraft carriers has sailed through the Strait of Hormuz and into the Gulf without incident.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet said the "USS Abraham Lincoln" had completed what she called a "regular and routine" passage through the strait.
The British Ministry of Defense said British and French naval vessels had accompanied the U.S. carrier through the waterway.
The action comes a day after Iran backed away from an earlier threat to take action if an American carrier returned to the strategic waterway.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said closing the Strait of Hormuz would cross a "red line."
Two of the eleven U.S. aircraft carriers are now in the region.
compiled from agency reports