In an interview with the Saudi Al-Hadth channel, Cooper said that the threats coming from Iran include attempted maritime piracy, human trafficking and arms smuggling.

Cooper noted that in the past two years, the Fifth Fleet has thwarted attempts to smuggle drugs worth billions of dollars, along with attempts to smuggle about 9,000 weapons from Iran to Yemen, and that the attempts to smuggle weapons come from Iran, with their destination in most cases being Yemen.

"Israel has a professional navy and we work with them for the benefit of maritime security in the region and for everyone," he said.