A U.S. Navy video obtained by USNI News shows the moment four Iranian Revolutionary Guard patrol boats approached the guided-missile destroyer USS Nitz earlier this week in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz. The video was filmed August 23.
A U.S. Navy official called the maneuvers of the boats “unsafe and unprofessional.”
“The Iranian high rate of closure…created a dangerous, harassing situation that could have led to further escalation including additional defensive measures by Nitze,” the official said, according to Reuters.
The White House said Thursday that the intentions of Iranian boats are unclear, saying “the behavior is not acceptable, given that this U.S. ship was in international waters.”
During the encounter the boats came within 300 yards of the destroyer.
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