A flight deck director prepares an F-18 Hornet for take-off aboard the USS John C. Stennis during war games in the Persian Gulf. (AP)

Manama, March 28 (Reuters): Mounting tensions between Iran and the West have accelerated war games the US navy is conducting in the Gulf, a spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet said today.

A second US aircraft carrier began exercises in the Gulf yesterday — the first time two such vessels have been sent to patrol Gulf waters since the US-led war on Iraq in 2003. The US exercises come amid rising tension with Iran over its nuclear programme and its capture of British sailors.

“The planning accelerated in conjunction with what was going on, but it was absolutely not the sole determinant. We are here exercising every day,” said Kevin Aandahl, a spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet based in the Gulf island of Bahrain.

“If Iran takes away a message from this, that’s up to them... Frankly the message is a regional one that reinforces that our presence is to provide stability and security.”

Iran, which began a week of drills using submarines and small missile-carrying ships in the Gulf last Thursday, downplayed the US naval exercises, and questioned their size.

“Our naval forces based in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman are completely ready, they are monitoring closely all the activities of foreign warships,” state media quoted Ali-Reza Tangsiri, a Revolutionary Guards navy commander, as saying.