Strait of Hormuz
On 27 December 2011, "Stennis" concluded a four-day port visit to Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates. It then steamed through the Strait of Hormuz to the North Arabian Sea to provide combat air support to coalition ground forces in Afghanistan. On 3 January 2012, following the end of Velayat 90, a 10-day Iranian military exercise in international waters near the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian Army chief of staff, General Ataollah Salehi, warned the United States to not send the "Stennis" back into the Persian Gulf. This initiated the 2011–12 Strait of Hormuz dispute between the United States and Iran over access through the strait.