The drill, named Great Prophet 9, was held near the Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world's oil passes. Iran's regular army carried out naval drills near the strait in December.
National TV showed footage of "high-precision missiles" fired from the coast, and a helicopter, striking the mock U.S. aircraft carrier. Fast attack craft were also involved in the military exercises, which aim to "demonstrate the power" of the navy in protecting Iranian interests in the Persian Gulf.
The "maquette of an American aircraft carrier" was built to scale and targeted with cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, according to the Fars News Agency.
The drills, which also included shooting down a drone and planting undersea mines, were the first to involve a replica of a U.S. carrier.
A ceremony marking the exercises was attended by commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps as well as by Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani.
"American aircraft carriers are very big ammunition depots, housing a lot of missiles, rockets, torpedoes and everything else," IRGC’s navy chief Adm. Ali Fadavi said, adding that a direct hit by a missile could set off a large secondary explosion. Last month Fadavi said his force is capable of sinking American aircraft carriers in the event of war.
The IRGC’s chief commander Gen. Muhammad Ali Jafari said the drills send a "message of (Iran's) might" to "extraterritorial powers," a reference to the United States.
"With attention to the situation in the region, we have noticeably expanded the defense budget of the armed forces to ensure the stable security of the region," Larijani told a news conference before the exercises.
The IRGC test-fired what it said were new 223 mph underwater missiles during the drills, according to Press TV.
 The three branches of the IRGC are participating in the regular military exercises off Qeshm Island.
The IRGC is responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, mainly composed of hundreds of speedboats equipped with various types of short- and medium-range missiles as well as small submarines.
Iran says its military doctrine is based entirely on deterrence.
The exercises began two days after French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle launched operations in the Persian Gulf. The ship will be stationed off Saudi Arabia for about eight weeks, working alongside the American aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.
The U.S. Fifth Fleet is stationed in Bahrain, and Qatar hosts the U.S. military command for the Middle East and Central Asia.
A nuclear-powered attack submarine, a French anti-aircraft frigate and a British anti-submarine frigate are also in the area.
Near the venue of the drills, a banner put on a platform read, "If the Americans are ready to be buried at the bottom of the waters of the Persian Gulf, let’s get started," a quote from Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
Some 30% of all seaborne traded oil flows through Hormuz, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and U.S. officials have expressed concern in the past that Iran could disrupt the oil flow or even attack American warships patrolling the waters of the Persian Gulf.
Iran, whose entire southern border runs along the Persian Gulf and the adjacent Gulf of Oman, has often said it could block Hormuz, which connects the two waters, if Tehran came under military attack over its nuclear program.