The U.S. Navy announced Tuesday that U.S. and Iranian warships entered into a tense confrontation in the Gulf earlier this month, in the first such incident in nearly a year.
Videos released by the U.S. Navy showed an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel blocking the road in front of the USCGC Monomoy, causing the Coast Guard ship to suddenly stop and smoke from its engine on April 2.
The Guard also did the same with another U.S. Coast Guard ship, “USCGC Wrangel,” said Rebecca Rebaric, spokeswoman for the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in the Middle East.
“The crews of both U.S. ships issued multiple warnings via the command radio, followed by the ship’s horn sounding five times, and despite the Iranian ship” Harath 55 “responding to the command radio requests, it continued the dangerous maneuvers.
Nearly three hours after the U.S. issued the warning and carried out defensive maneuvers, the Iranian ships moved away from the U.S. ships and opened distances between them.
Ribaric said the confrontation represents the first “dangerous and unprofessional” incident for the Iranians since April 15, 2020. Nonetheless, she confirmed that Iran has largely stopped such incidents in 2018 and 2019.
In 2017, the Navy recorded 14 “dangerous or unprofessional” incidents with Iranian forces. It recorded 35 incidents in 2016 and 23 incidents in 2015.
