Iran vessels make ‘high speed intercept’ of U.S. ship -U.S

Four small Iranian boats drove within 300 yards of destroyer Nitze while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Four Iranian boats approached a USA destroyer in the Persian Gulf in a risky stunt Tuesday, according to a Navy official.

The guided missile destroyers Nitze and Mason were headed outbound Tuesday afternoon, US Navy officials said, proceeding from the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman, when the IRGCN vessels approached.

In January, the Iranian navy briefly captured the crews of two United States patrol boats that had, through a series of blunders, strayed into Iranian territorial waters.

Four vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) “harassed” a USA destroyer on Tuesday by carrying out a “high speed intercept” in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, a US defense official said on Wednesday.

The encounter occurred in worldwide waters in the strait, a vitally important choke point with Iran to its north and the United Arab Emirates to the south.

IRGC, the Islamic Republic’s praetorian guard, is suspicious of U.S. military activity near Iran’s borders and appears to be sticking to a familiar posture in the Gulf that predates last year’s nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers, including the United States.

Richardson said the encounter raises questions about what is the “new normal”, adding, “We have to be mindful that we don’t become complacent as things get steadily busier, steadily more engaging and that we’re thoughtful about how we approach those challenges”. They were released the next day after being held for about 15 hours.

Several of the sailors were fired from their jobs or disciplined in connection with the incident.