The Nitze and guided missile destroyer USS Mason encountered the Iranians in worldwide waters, where four Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps boats approached the warships at high speed, Stars and Stripes reported.
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The Pentagon has said a US Navy vessel fired three shots to warn an Iranian military boat off in the Gulf.
American officials said Wednesday Iranian boats sped close to two US Navy destroyers with their weapons uncovered in the Strait of Hormuz in an “unsafe and unprofessional” encounter.
Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency on Thursday quoted General Hosein Dehghan as saying, “If any foreign vessel enters our waters, we warn them, and if it’s an invasion, we confront”. The USS Squall fired the three warning shots from their 50-caliber gun into the water just ahead of the approaching Iranian craft, at which point the Iranians turned and left.
The small Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy craft drove within within 300 yards of the destroyer Nitze, deployed with the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group, near the Strait of Hormuz, said the official who was not authorized to speak on the record about the incident. “And that is to take appropriate steps to try and de-escalate the situation”, he added, noting that the shots fired from the USS Squall forced the Iranian vessels to leave.
“Later, the Tempest and Squall were harassed by a Naser-class WAP Iranian vessel that closed Tempest head-on to within 200 yards”, Urban said.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55) departs Naval Station Norfolk for deployment to the USA 6th Fleet on August 18, 2013.
The USS Nitze fired 10 warning flares and blew its whistles at the Iranian vessels but got no response.
The Nitze and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command assessed the interaction as unsafe and unprofessional. “We will monitor them and, if they violate our waters, we will confront them”, Dehghan said in a statement. The U.S. Navy described the incident as “unsafe and unprofessional” and said it occurred in global waters in the narrow Strait of Hormuz.
In January, 10 United States sailors, who were aboard two patrol craft, were detained by the IRGC when they inadvertently entered Iranian territorial waters.
Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook acknowledged the three incidents Thursday, but said he did not have details.
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They follow another close encounter between the two navies on Tuesday when four Iranian craft “harassed” the destroyer USS Nitze near the Strait of Hormuz, according to USA officials.
