(T-AGM 24). U.S. Navy File Photo
By Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) – Multiple fast-attack vessels from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps came close to a U.S. Navy ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, forcing it to change direction, a U.S. official told Reuters on Monday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the boats came within 600 yards (meters) of the USNS Invincible, a tracking ship, and stopped. The Invincible and three ships from the British Royal Navy accompanying it had to change course.
The official said attempts were made to communicate over radio, but there was no response and the interaction was “unsafe and unprofessional.”
The IRGC could not immediately be reached for a comment.
Years of mutual animosity eased when Washington lifted sanctions on Tehran last year after a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But serious differences remain over Iran’s ballistic missile program and conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
While still a presidential candidate in September, Donald Trump vowed that any Iranian vessels that harassed the U.S. Navy in the Gulf would be “shot out of the water.”
Similar incidents happen occasionally, but the last serious one was in January when a U.S. Navy destroyer fired three warning shots at four Iranian fast-attack vessels near the Strait of Hormuz after they closed in at high speed and disregarded repeated requests to slow down. (Reporting by Idrees Ali Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by James Dalgleish)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017.
Join the gCaptain Club for curated content, insider opinions, and vibrant community discussions.
Join the 108,871 members that receive our newsletter.
Have a news tip? Let us know.
WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – When Marco Rubio arrives in Latin America this weekend on his first foreign trip as Donald Trump’s secretary of state, he’ll find a region reeling from the new administration’s...
US President Donald Trump has raised the stakes for a meeting of an OPEC+ ministerial panel next month, with his call for the group to lower oil prices.
Vessels in the northern Gulf have received multiple VHF radio challenges, including demands to alter course, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Friday, adding they could be part of an Iranian military exercise.
Maritime and offshore news trusted by our 108,871 members delivered daily straight to your inbox.
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
Sign Up
Join The Club
