US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said sending a second aircraft carrier to thePersian Gulf could serve as a "reminder' to Iran, but he said it is not an escalation of force.

A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine shows there is increasing evidence that high rates of illness in Persian Gulf War Veterans can be explained, in part, by exposure to certain chemicals, including pesticides and nerve agents.

Five Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route off the Iranian coast, over the weekend, CNN reported on Monday.

Iran is unlikely to disrupt oil supply through the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway in the Gulf in any row with the West over its nuclear ambitions, a top International Energy Agency official said on Tuesday, June 5th.

An oil slick in Persian Gulf in Dubai forced authorities on Saturday, May 6th, to close beaches.

The British government said it was in direct contact with Iran and examining options for new dialogue over the seized crew of 15 sailors and marines. There were few signs of tensions easing in Iran, where students pelted Britain's embassy with rocks and firecrackers and a television station aired new footage of two captured seamen in front of a map of the Persian Gulf.

After Iranian television showed British naval personnel saying they had entered Iranian territory without permission when they were detained, state-run media say that all 15 being held by Tehran have confessed to illegally entering Iran's waters.

The U.S. Navy has begun its most extensive maneuvers in the Persian Gulf region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The exercises involve two aircraft carriers -- the "USS John C. Stennis" and the "USS Dwight D. Eisenhower" -- and their battle groups.

The U.S. Navy is conducting its largest war games in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq at a time of increasing tensions with Iran.

Fifteen British sailors are in Iranian custody after being seized in the Persian Gulf today, prompting London to demand their release. Britain's Defense Ministry says the British sailors and their two boats were surrounded by Iranian ships and escorted from Iraqi waters into Iran's territorial waters.