WASHINGTON: A U.S. Navy destroyer fired three warning shots at armed Iranian patrol boats as they sped toward the American warship at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, marring a recent period of relatively quiet interactions between U.S. and Iranian forces, the Pentagon said Monday.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said a group of four fast-attack boats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps navy had ignored multiple attempts by the crew of the USS Mahan to warn them away. The Mahan used an audible siren, flashing lights and a ship’s whistle to warn the Iranians, and managed to establish radio communication. The initial warnings were not heeded, prompting the decision to fire three warning shots with a .50-caliber machine gun, Davis said.
The Iranian boats then turned away.
The incident happened Sunday inside the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway at the entrance to the Gulf.
“This was an unsafe and unprofessional interaction,” Davis said.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest added: “These types of actions are certainly concerning and certainly risk escalating tensions.”
U.S. relations with Iran are among the tougher foreign policy issues that President-elect Donald Trump will inherit next week when he succeeds President Barack Obama. During the campaign, Trump promised to take a harder line on Iran. The incident could be seen as Iranian probing amid uncertainty over how quickly and severely Trump will turn away from Obama’s policy of engaging diplomatically with Iran.
Meanwhile, diplomats say Iran is to receive a huge shipment of natural uranium from Russia to compensate it for exporting tons of reactor coolant, a move approved by the outgoing U.S. administration and other governments seeking to keep Tehran committed to a landmark nuclear pact.
Two senior diplomats said the transfer recently approved by the U.S. and five other world powers that negotiated the nuclear deal with Iran foresees delivery of nearly 130 tons of natural uranium.
The diplomats, whose main focus is Iran’s nuclear program, demanded anonymity Monday because they are not allowed to discuss the program’s confidential details.