US Navy fires warning shots at Iranian attack boats in latest stand-off in Gulf
The US military said one of its ships fired warning shots after three Iranian navy vessels came close to it and another American patrol boat in the Gulf.
Such incidents have occurred occasionally over the past five years, although there has been a relative lull over the past year.
Although officials said it was too early to discern the exact motive of the Iranian forces, in the past such incidents were carried out by local commanders rather than directed by senior Iranian leaders.
“The US crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-tobridge radio and loud-hailer devices, but the IRGCN [Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy] vessels continued their close-range manoeuvres,” the military said.
“The crew of Firebolt then fired warning shots, and the IRGCN vessels moved away to a safe distance from the US vessels.”
The closest the Iranian fast inshore attack craft came to the American ships was 62 metres.
The incident occurred on Monday in international waters in the northern Gulf.
It happened as world powers and Iran try to speed up efforts to bring Washington and Tehran into compliance with the 2015 nuclear accord.
Earlier on Tuesday, the head of US forces in the Middle East said the country’s military would be careful not to let such incidents turn into a cycle of provocation, although he did not mention Monday’s confrontation.
“The activities we typically see from the IRGC navy are not necessarily activities that are directed by the supreme leader or from the Iranian state, rather irresponsible actions by local commanders on the scene,” said Gen Kenneth McKenzie, head of US Central Command.
A US official said the area of the Gulf where the incident took place had a history of IRGC vessels harassing fishing boats.
“The US is not an aggressor … our forces are trained, however, to conduct effective defensive measures when necessary,” the US military said.