The US Navy identified the vessel as the Advantage Sweet which, according to Refinitiv ship tracking data, is a Suezmax crude tanker.
The USS Florida entered the region on Thursday and began transiting the Suez Canal, Commander Timothy Hawkins said in a statement.
The extended deployment may help deter Iran’s threats to the US in Syria. In addition, the US has continued strikes against ISIS threats in Syria.
US naval forces on December 1 intercepted a fishing trawler smuggling more than 50 tons of ammunition rounds, fuses and propellants for rockets in the Gulf of Oman along a route from Iran to Yemen.
It was the second straight day of a stand-off between the two superpowers amid growing tensions in the South China Sea.
Hatchet Speed was only arrested more than a year after the January 6 Capitol riot which he attended undetected.
The Iranian arms shipment to Yemen is part of a growing trend of Iranian attempts to smuggle weapons to Yemen.