Iranian court tease US Navy
A patrol ship of the U.S. Navy fired three warning shots to Iran's revolutionary boat Wednesday after U.S. officials said that the patrol vessels have been prosecuted.
Other patrol boats and US Navy ship Kuwait also faced harassment in the incident, which took place in the Northern part of the Persian Gulf.
At one point, the Iranian boat was within 200 yards of one of the boats of the U.S. Navy. The Americans, in turn, launched illumination flares and were able to talk on the radio with the Iranian team. After the standard procedures of the marine, the Navy was made 3 shots in the water so that the Iranians understand that they must leave the territory.
A spokesman for the State Department's Elizabeth Trudeau said that incidents such as this "adds tension", adding that the US knows Iran's intentions.
The official said that two of the ships slowed down and turned around just after passing within 300 yards from the missile US destroyer in international waters near the Strait of Hormuz, and only after the destroyer was sent several visual and audible warnings.
These incidents are not the first in a series of close contacts with Iran in the region since December. Drones flying over American ships and capturing American sailors in January. They take place against the backdrop of the resumption of diplomatic contacts between the US and Iran, which has caused a political reaction among the Iranian hardliners.
In December, as part of life-fire exercises of the Iranian military fired a missile near a U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Harry Truman.
And in January, the IRGC captured 10 American sailors when their ship accidentally wandered into the waters near Iran controlled the island of Farsi in the Persian Gulf. The sailors were released shortly thereafter.
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