U.S. Navy Vessel Fires Warning Shots at Iranian Vessel in Gulf

The coastal patrol craft USS Thunderbolt (PC 12) recovers a rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) during a trilateral exercise between the U.S., Kuwait and Iraq, in the Arabian Gulf, March 15, 2017. U.S. Navy Photo

By Idrees Ali

WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) – A U.S. Navy ship fired warning shots when an Iranian vessel in the Gulf came within 150 yards (137 meters) on Tuesday in the first such incident since President Donald Trump took office in January, a U.S. official told Reuters.

See a video of the confrontation, released by the U.S. Navy, HERE. 

The last major incident was earlier in January, though there have been instances when a U.S. vessel fired a flare as well as an event in March when a U.S. Navy ship was forced to change course after multiple fast-attack vessels from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard came too close.

The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the patrol craft, named Thunderbolt, fired the warning shots after the Iranian vessel approached at high speed and ignored radio calls, flares and the ship’s whistle. The Thunderbolt was accompanied by several U.S. Coast Guard vessels.

The Iranian vessel appeared to be from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the official said, adding that it was armed but that the weapons were unmanned.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s navy issued a statement on Tuesday noting that an American “battleship” moved toward one of its patrol boats in international waters in the northern Gulf and fired two shots in the air, according to Sepah News, the official news site of the Guards.

“The Revolutionary Guards navy boat, without paying attention to this unprofessional and provocative behavior, continued its mission and after a short period of time the American ship left the area,” the statement said, according to Sepah News.

Years of mutual animosity had eased when Washington lifted sanctions on Tehran last year as part of a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But serious differences remain over Iran’s ballistic missile program and conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

The Trump administration, which has struck a hard line on Iran, recently declared that Iran was complying with its nuclear agreement with world powers, but warned that Tehran was not following the spirit of the accord and that Washington would look for ways to strengthen it.

During the presidential campaign last September, Trump vowed that any Iranian vessels that harass the U.S. Navy in the Gulf would be “shot out of the water.”

Such incidents occur occasionally. In January, 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. (Additional reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh in Beirut; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Matthew Lewis)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017.