U.S. vessel fires warning shots at Iranian patrol boats.

WASHINGTON» A U.S. Coast Guard cutter fired 30 warning shots after 13 Iranian fast patrol boats menaced a group of U.S. Navy ships sailing in the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said Monday.

The incident marked the third time in little more than a month that vessels from Iran and the United States have come dangerously close in or near the Persian Gulf.

In the latest incident, the Coast Guard cutter Maui fired the warning shots after the attack craft from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard “conducted unsafe and unprofessional maneuvers” while operating close to six Navy ships and one submarine sailing through the Strait into the Persian Gulf, the Pentagon spokesman, John F. Kirby, told reporters.