A Navy warship fired a warning flare Monday after Iranian speed boats came within 50 yards of it in the Strait of Hormuz, officials with U.S. Naval Force Central Command said.
The USS Sirocco, a Cyclone-class patrol ship, and the cargo transport ship USNS Choctaw were conducting what Navy officials said was a “routine transit in international waters” when three they were approached by three fast inshore attack craft operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN).
One of the IRGCN patrol boats approached the Sirocco head-on at a “dangerously high speed” and veered away only when the Navy ship sounded warning signals to avoid a collision. The ship also fired a warning flare during the incident, Navy officials said.
The Iranian ships left the area about an hour later.
It was the latest such event between American and Iranian vessels in the Gulf. In May 2021, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter fired 30 warning shots after more than a dozen IRGCN fast attack boats approached a U.S. naval convoy at high speed in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway separating the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf.
The USCGC Maui, along with five other Navy and Coast Guard warships, were escorting the guided-missile submarine USS Georgia when the Iranian boats approached. The Maui fired the first round of warning shots when the boats were 300 yards away and a second while they were at the 150-yard mark, Pentagon officials said at the time.
The Iranian boats broke contact after the second round of warning shots, officials said.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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