Dehghan’s comments came after four vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard approached a USA destroyer on Tuesday in what an American defence official described as a “high speed intercept” near the Strait of Hormuz.
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In January, two U.S. Navy patrol vessels inadvertently entered Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, followed by the arrests of 10 U.S. sailors by the IRGC.
The Iranian ship departed after the Tempest fired three shots from its.50-caliber machine gun into the water, U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet spokesman William Urban said. Following standard maritime procedures, the Navy fired the three shots into the water to ensure the Iranians understood they needed to leave the immediate area.
The close calls came a day after four Iranian vessels harassed the USS Nitze, another Arleigh-Burke class guided- missile destroyer, as it transited the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian boats closed to within 300 yards of the Nitze before slowing and diverting course, according to the official who described it “as unsafe and unprofessional”.
Tensions nearly spilled over in January when Iran detained a group of 10 US Navy sailors who had seemingly erred into Iranian waters accidentally on launches.
Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook told reporters Thursday that shots were fired into the water.
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 worldwide maritime thoroughfare.
Tuesday’s incident occurred in the strategically important Strait of Hormuz.
When asked about the Tuesday incident, Iran’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said his country’s “naval units have the duty of safeguarding the country’s security in the sea and the Persian Gulf”.
Disturbing news broke Thursday that for the third time in a week US Navy ships in or near the Persian Gulf were harassed by vessels maned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Ten percent of those encounters were deemed unsafe and unprofessional, the official said.
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The Nitze repeatedly attempted to radio the Iranian vessels, fired warning flares and sounded blasts from its whistle – to no avail. “We will monitor them and, if they violate our waters, we will confront them”, Dehghan said in a statement.
