Iran, US warships in tense Middle East encounter.

American and Iranian warships have had a tense encounter in the waters of the Gulf earlier this month, the first such incident in about a year amid wider turmoil in the region over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal, the US Navy said on Tuesday.

Footage – dated April 2 – released by the Navy showed a ship commanded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) cut in front of the USCGC Monomoy, causing the US Coast Guard vessel to come to an abrupt stop with its engine smoking.

The IRGC did the same with another Coast Guard vessel, the USCGC Wrangell, said Commander Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the US Navy’s Middle East-based 5th Fleet.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge the incident, which resulted in no injuries or damage.

“The US crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio, five short blasts from the ships’ horns, and while the (Iranian) Harth 55 responded to the bridge-to-bridge radio queries, they continued the unsafe manoeuvers,” Rebarich said.

“After approximately three hours of the US issuing warning and conducting defensive manoeuvers, the (Iranian) vessels manoeuvered away from the US ships and opened distance between them,” added Rebariach.

‘Unsafe and unprofessional’ incident.
The interaction marked the first “unsafe and unprofessional” incident involving Iran since April 15, 2020, Rebarich said.