U.S. Coast Guard Fired Warning Shots at Iranian Fast Boats
- Group of 13 Iranian boats approached ‘very aggressively’: U.S.
- Incident is latest in series as U.S.-Iran tensions heighten
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A U.S. Coast Guard ship accompanying a guided-missile submarine and other vessels near the Strait of Hormuz fired warning shots after a group of 13 Iranian fast boats approached them in an “unsafe” manner on Monday, the Pentagon’s spokesman said.
The group of fast boats controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came as close as 150 yards (137 meters) to the U.S. ships when a Coast Guard cutter, the Maui, fired about 30 warning shots from a .50-caliber machine gun, spokesman John Kirby told reporters. He said the Iranian vessels were behaving “very aggressively.”