WASHINGTON — A U.S. Coast Guard ship accompanying a guided-missile submarine and other vessels near the Strait of Hormuz fired warning shots at Iranian fast boats that approached them in an “unsafe” manner on Monday, the Pentagon’s spokesman said.
A large group of fast boats controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came as close as 150 yards, or 137 meters, to the U.S. ships when a Coast Guard cutter fired about 30 warning shots from a .50-caliber machine gun, spokesman John Kirby told reporters. He said the Iranian vessels were behaving “very aggressively.”
The encounter is the latest sign of U.S.-Iran tensions in the Middle East and the second time an American ship fired at an Iranian vessel in recent weeks. Late last month, the U.S. released footage of the USS Firebolt firing at Iranian fast boats that came within about 68 yards. In early April, an Iranian boat pulled in front of another Coast Guard vessel, though no shots were fired.
“It’s unsafe, it’s unprofessional, and this kind of activity is the kind of activity that could lead to somebody getting hurt and could lead to a real miscalculation in the region,” Kirby said. “Sadly, harassment by the IRGC navy is not a new phenomenon.”
The U.S. ships were entering the Persian Gulf when they were approached, Kirby said. The encounters come despite U.S. and Iranian negotiators taking part in indirect talks in Vienna over how to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.
