Navy ship fires warning shots at Iranian vessel
WASHINGTON — Iranian ships made reckless maneuvers close to four U.S. warships this week in a series of incidents that could have led to dangerous escalation, defense officials said Thursday.
In one incident Wednesday, the patrol ship USS Squall fired warning shots at an Iranian vessel during a patrol in the Arabian Gulf.
Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook told reporters Thursday that shots were fired into the water.
“These were incidents that the crews deemed unsafe,” Cook said. “These are incidents that carry a risk of escalation and we don’t desire any kind of escalation. Our ships have been operating in that part of the world for years.”
The incidents involving the Iranian ships and parts of the U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet spanned multiple days and included two U.S. patrol ships, the USS Squall and Tempest, and two U.S. destroyers, the USS Nitze and Stout.
William Urban, a spokesman for the 5th Fleet, said vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps conducted a “high-speed intercept” and passed close to the USS Nitze, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, in international waters around the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
The Iranian ships that buzzed the Nitze ignored repeated radio, whistle and flare warnings, and slowed only when they were within 300 yards of the U.S. ship, Urban said. He described the Iranian actions as “unsafe and unprofessional.”
The Nitze was accompanied by the USS Mason, a guided missile destroyer, as it made what Urban described as a “routine transit” through an area that is an important international maritime thoroughfare.
“The Iranian high rate of closure on a United States ship operating in accordance with international law while transiting in international waters along with the disregard of multiple warning attempts created a dangerous, harassing situation that could have led to further escalation including additional defensive measures by Nitze,” Urban said in a statement.
The incidents are the latest sign of U.S.-Iranian friction near Iran’s coast. In January, a group of U.S. sailors was detained overnight by Iranian personnel after their boats veered into Iranian waters. An embarrassment for the Obama administration, some of the U.S. personnel involved in that incident faced disciplinary action.
Long-standing U.S. tensions with Iran over Tehran’s support for militant groups in the Middle East have not dissipated since a 2015 deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program. The two countries back opposite sides in the Syrian conflict and remain at arm’s length in Iraq, despite shared support for the Baghdad government.