“Iran’s military fleet is approaching the United States’ maritime borders, and this move has a message,” Adm. Afshin Rezayee Haddad said, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported Saturday.

The plan, according to Fars, is a response to the United States beefing up its naval presence in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain.

Haddad said the Iranian fleet was approaching the Atlantic Ocean “via the waters near South Africa,” a claim that has not been confirmed.

A U.S. military official told CNN there was no operational information to support the claim.