India on Friday said it had conveyed its concerns to the United States after the US Navy announced that a ship of its fleet had carried out a freedom of navigation operation in the Indian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) without New Delhi’s ‘consent’.

The Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said that the country “does not authorise other States to carry out (such operations) in the Exclusive Economic Zone”.

“The Government of India's stated position on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is that the Convention does not authorise other States to carry out in the Exclusive Economic Zone and on the continental shelf, military exercises or manoeuvres, in particular those involving the use of weapons or explosives, without the consent of the coastal state,” the statement read.

“The USS John Paul Jones was continuously monitored transiting from the Persian Gulf towards the Malacca Straits. We have conveyed our concerns regarding this passage through our EEZ to the Government of USA through diplomatic channels,” it further said.

The US Navy, in a statement, announced that it asserted navigational rights and freedoms inside India's EEZ without seeking the country's prior consent.

“This freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea recognised in international law by challenging India's excessive maritime claims,” the US 7th fleet said in a statement on April 7.