A Virginia Beach-based Navy coastal patrol ship fired three warning shots to thwart an Iranian naval vessel in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, as a series of brushes between military forces continued this week, Cmdr.
Advertisement
The White House said Friday that the Iranian navy’s behavior was “not acceptable” in causing two close encounters with USA war ships in the Persian Gulf. After the Iranian vessel ignored signal flares and radio messages advising it to steer clear of the USA and Kuwaiti ships, the USS Squall fired three warning shots. The ships came within 300 yards of the USS Nitze, a move that us officials called “unsafe and unprofessional”.
“At this point, it’s not clear what the intentions of the Iranian ships were, but the behavior is not acceptable, given that this US ship was in worldwide waters”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
News of the altercations emerged as Iran said it will continue to warn and confront any vessels that stray into its waters.
Because the US doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Iran, Mr. Earnest said, “our ability to discern exactly what their intent was is limited”.
Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said the Iranian vessels were just doing their job.
The incident started with three Iranian vessels, but there was only one around by the time the warning shots were fired, the official said.
“This situation presented a drastically increased risk of collision, and the Iranian vessel refused to safely maneuver in accordance with internationally recognized maritime rules of the road”, he said.
The USS Squall fired warning flares but the craft continued to approach – so the patrol ship fired live rounds. [Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images] U.S. Navy officials referred to Tuesday’s encounter as a “high-seed intercept” of the Nitze in worldwide waters and said it was “unsafe and unprofessional”, according to the National Review.
The vessels harassed the destroyer by ‘conducting a high speed intercept and closing within a short distance of Nitze, despite repeated warnings, ‘ the official said.
In January, the Iranian navy briefly captured the crews of two United States patrol boats that had, through a series of blunders, strayed into Iranian territorial waters.
The Iranian ships “created a unsafe, harassing situation that could have led to further escalation, including additional defensive measures by Nitze”, an American defense official said of the earlier incident. All of the instances took place in worldwide waters in the northern Persian Gulf. He added that Iranian boats patrol to monitor traffic and foreign vessels in its territorial waters.
The 10 American sailors were released within 24 hours. “And we certainly don’t desire any escalation, any sort of confrontation there”, the Pentagon spokesman added.
Advertisement
The Gulf separates Iran from its regional rival Saudi Arabia and a US naval base in Bahrain.
