US warns airliners flying in Arabic Gulf amid tensions with Iran

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has warned US commercial airliners flying over the waters of the Arabic Gulf that they risk being misidentified amid rising tensions between the US and Iran.

An advisory, issued by the FAA on May 16, said the warning came amid "heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the region which present an increasing inadvertent risk to US civil aviation operations due to the potential for miscalculation or mis-identification".

Tensions have escalated in recent days, with concerns about a potential US-Iran military conflict.

The US has ordered a beefing up of US military assets in the Middle East and Arabic Gulf, citing possible threats from Iranian regime, and the State Department also ordered the evacuation of all nonessential personnel from the US Embassy in neighboring Iraq.

Last May, U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a 2015 landmark nuclear deal which curtailed Iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for relief from crippling sanctions.