US Navy Fires Warning Shots at Iranian Boat

A U.S. Navy boat in the Persian Gulf fired three warning shots on Wednesday at an Iranian small craft that had earlier come as close as 200 yards to the boat, and the Iranian boat sped away after the warning shots were fired, U.S. officials said today.

The incident was one of two incidents this week involving U.S. Navy vessels and small water craft from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy that the Pentagon is calling "unsafe and unprofessional."

The incident on Wednesday follows another close encounter between the two navies on Tuesday when four Iranian craft "harassed" the destroyer USS Nitze near the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. officials.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Navy patrol boat USS Tempest fired three warning shots at an Iranian small boat that had come within 200 yards of the USS Squall, according to U.S. officials. At the time, the Squall and Tempest were participating in an exercise with a Kuwaiti patrol boat in the northern Persian Gulf.

The three vessels had been traveling in formation when they were approached by a small Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy water craft at high speed, according to U.S. officials. The crew of the USS Squall fired flares to warn off the approaching vessel and was able to make brief radio contact, but the Iranian vessel continued its approach.

The Iranian boat went through the three craft formation and came as close as 200 yards to the Squall, U.S. officials said.

When the Iranian boat appeared to make another approach, the USS Tempest fired "a burst" of three warning shots into the waters ahead of the speeding boat to warn it off, U.S. officials said. The firing of the burst occurred while it was 1,000 yards away from the vessel. It was after the warning shots that the Iranian vessel broke away.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters today that the reason for the warning shots was because the American sailors had "taken steps already to de-escalate the situation, appropriate steps, including flares to warn the Iranian craft, so they felt the need to take an additional step to de-escalate."

Cook said the "onus is on the Iranians to conduct themselves in a professional way, as all navies do."

"There is no need for this unprofessional behavior and we're going to continue to do what we need to do to protect our vessels," Cook added.

In another incident on Wednesday, small Iranian boats approached the destroyer USS Stout, Cook said, but did not provide further details.

The latest incidents occurred a day after four Iranian craft "harassed" the destroyer USS Nitze in approaches that one official said "came way too close for comfort."

"Four Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGCN) vessels harassed the guided missile destroyer USS Nitze (DDG 94) by conducting a high-speed intercept and closing within a short distance of Nitze despite repeated warnings as Nitze transited international waters in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz Aug. 23," a defense official said.

The crew of the Nitze fired flares and sounded the ship's horn to warn the small craft, but they continued to approach the ship from the side.

In video of the encounter recorded aboard the Nitze showed the warning flares fired from the ship as well as the audio warnings from the ship's horn.