US: Iranian Ships Came Close to Us in the Gulf

By Staff, Agencies

Out of the COVID-19 box, and in an attempt to move tension from the internal front to the outside arena, the US claimed that eleven vessels from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy [IRGCN] came dangerously close to US Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Gulf.

The US military called the moves "dangerous and provocative."

According to the statement, the Iranian vessels approached six US military ships while they were conducting integration operations with Army helicopters in international waters.

“At one point, the Iranian vessels came within 10 yards of the US Coast Guard cutter Maui,” it added, claiming that “The US ships issued several warnings through bridge-to-bridge radio, blasts from the ships' horns and long-range acoustic noise maker devices.”

The statement further added: “The Iranian ships left after about an hour.”

There was no mention of the incident in Iranian media.

"The IRGCN's dangerous and provocative actions increased the risk of miscalculation and collision, [and] were not in accordance with the internationally recognized Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea," the US military's statement said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, asked in a Fox News interview whether he had discussed the incident with the Pentagon, said: "We've talked as a team. ... We're evaluating how best to respond and how best to communicate our displeasure with what ... took place."