Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Tuesday they warned U.S. Navy vessels to watch their behavior after Washington said warning shots were fired near Iranian fast attack boats, the latest confrontation between the rivals in the Persian Gulf.
As Breitbart News reported, the lecture came after a large group of Iranian military fast attack boats on Monday harassed six U.S. Navy ships escorting a guided missile submarine into the Strait of Hormuz.
After issuing warnings to the Iranian fast boats, including via horn blast and bridge-to-bridge radio transmissions, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Maui fired approximately 30 warning shots from her 50 caliber machine gun to disperse the group.
The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy confirmed it had encountered seven U.S. vessels in the incident, but said it warned them “while maintaining the legal distance … against their risky and unprofessional behaviour, after which they continued on their way”.
It said in a statement that the U.S. behaviour included “flying helicopters, firing flares, and aimless, unnecessary and provocative shooting”.
Iran is behind a mysterious explosion on an Israeli cargo vessel in the Persian Gulf and a response will be forthcoming, Israel said. https://t.co/e2eLsZIh8w
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) February 28, 2021
The Guards said its navy was entirely professional, conducting “routine missions in the territorial waters” of Iran, but did not specify whether the American vessels had entered the Islamic republic’s waters.
The encounter was the second such incident in two weeks, according to the U.S. Navy.
In late April, three Iranian fast inshore attack craft provoked warning shots when they came close to two U.S. vessels in international waters in the northern part of the Gulf, it said.
And in early April four Guard vessels, three fast attack craft and a large Harth 55 catamaran similarly came close to two U.S. Coast Guard patrol ships, crossing their bows while ignoring warnings.
No shots were fired in that encounter, although under the previous Donald Tump administration there was never any doubt the U.S. Navy would act to protect itself and its allies.
Top Pentagon leaders called President Trump’s tweet instructing the US Navy to shoot down and destroy “any and all Iranian gunboats” if they harassed its ships “an important warning” and “perfect.” https://t.co/eiE0LN0aWi
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 23, 2020
In its statement, the Guards’ navy said its forces will “calmly and confidently follow their missions in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf” and are ready to respond to “any miscalculation” by the US.
The confrontations comes amid talks in Vienna between Iran and major powers on reviving the landmark 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal abandoned three years later by Trump.
AFP contributed to this story
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