According to a USA defense official, the Iranian craft was at one point going head-to-head with the USS Tempest and coming within 200 yards of the American patrol craft.
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The official said one of the Iranian ships came within 600 yards of the USS Tempest and crossed its bow, prompting the American patrol craft to blow its horn five short times to signal danger.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Gen. Hosein Dehghan as saying that “if any foreign vessel enters our waters, we warn them, and if it’s an invasion, we confront”.
The situation escalated on Wednesday when a lone IRGC boat harassed the USS Squall, a naval patrol craft, and a Kuwaiti naval vessel. 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.
USA and Iranian navies in the Persian Gulf have long eyed each other warily, despite diplomatic efforts between the two countries. He said the US ships are conducting themselves in a safe and professional manner and they will continue to take whatever steps they need to protect themselves. None of these incidents involved either party firing warning shots.
U.S. Navy officials said that the American vessels were in worldwide waters both times.
Separate from the regular Iranian Navy, the IRGCN answers directly to the sectarian leadership of Iran and often violates maritime laws and standards, according to both the USA and United Kingdom since 2007 the group has controlled Iran’s coastal defense.
The U.S. Navy is researching ways to counter Iran’s asymmetrical advantages.
“Eventually, the Iranian vessels slowed before proceeding outbound”. No warning shots were fired by either party in that incident.
No warning shots were fired in the incident on Tuesday.
William Urban, a spokesman for the 5th Fleet, said the Iranian vessels that buzzed the Nitze ignored repeated radio, whistle and flare warnings.
Later on Wednesday, the same Nassar-class boat also made a run at the guided missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG-55), which was also operating in the Persian Gulf.
An estimated 20 percent of the world’s oil travels through the Strait – one of the most critical global commercial chokepoints in the world.
Cook said the USA ships in the incidents Tuesday and Wednesday were acting in a “professional manner” and “we did not see the same from the Iranian boats”.
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Years of mutual animosity eased when Washington lifted sanctions on Tehran in January after a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions but serious differences still remain over Iran’s ballistic missile program, Syria and Iraq.
