A U.S. Coast Guard cutter fired at least 30 warning shots at a group of Iranian fast-attack boats Monday while escorting a U.S. Navy submarine through a section of the Strait of Hormuz.
At least 13 vessels from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps approached a formation of U.S. ships escorting the USS Georgia, a fast-attack submarine capable of firing cruise missiles.
“They conducted unsafe and unprofessional maneuvers and failed to exercise due regard while operating in close proximity to U.S. naval vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
The Iranian attack boats came within 150 yards of the U.S. ships and ignored warning horn blasts and radio communications. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Maui fired at least two volleys from a .50 caliber machine gun as a warning.
The Iranian boats then left the scene, Mr. Kirby said.
“Harassment by the IRGC Navy is not a new phenomenon,” he said. “All of our commanding officers and crews of their vessels have the right of self defense.”
