The incident had taken place in the Northern Persian Gulf at around 03:00 pm local time Tuesday and in the area that marks the latest collision between both Iranian and American military ships. It’s also the first time since President Trump took office in January that a U.S. ship has fired warning shots at an Iranian ship.
According to two U.S. defense officials, the USS Thunderbolt and three other U.S. ships that were managing routine exercises had been approached by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) vessel.
“Neither the skiff fails to respond to bridge-to-bridge transmissions nor did it react to five short blasts, a sound warning for feasible danger, coming as close as 150 yards (137 meters or 179-foot) of the USS Thunderbolt,” they said.
Armament includes weapons in a U.S. Navy patrol (coastal) ship
USS Typhoon, USS Sirroco, USS Chinook, USS Firebolt and USS Whirlwind are homeported in Manama, Bahrain. Radio calls, flares, or warning sirens those didn’t react by the Iranian vessel supposedly. That forced the sailors aboard the US ship to use weapons to send their signal.
A Cyclone-class patrol ship is armed with two 25mm Mk-38 chain guns, two .50-caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns, and two Mk-19 automatic grenade launchers, according to the Navy. Different crews are embarked onboard Patrol Coastal’s for six to seven months.
In the Persian Gulf, the two countries regularly have tense exchanges
By anti-Iran rhetoric from President Donald Trump that the warning shots come as tensions between the two countries have heightened, spurred on in part.
A short time ago over an ongoing argument between Washington and Tehran over American citizens being held a prisoner in Iran that sharp warnings have been issued by Mr. Trump to Iran. For holding Iranian citizens in its jails as well, the Iranian government has been critical of the US. "Tear up" the agreement with Iran, that was promised by Mr.
Trump. His administration has already recertified the agreement, showing that Iran has complied with the agreement so far.
Iran says US Navy fired warning flares at its vessel on Friday also. Marking the latest aggressive encounter between two nations, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said.
The IRGC navy also said in a Saturday’s statement that the US carrier was “unprofessional and provocative” Friday.
The IRGC navy said that a helicopter dispatched by the USS Nimitz and a second American ship near an oil and gas station and followed Iranian ships. The Iranian navy also added that the warning flares have been ignored by Iranian vessels, and later left the area by the American ships.
Including the two navies, this is the most recent in a series of encounters.
