Eleven Iranian vessels repeatedly made threateningly “dangerous and harassing approaches” to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the perilous North Arabian Gulf. The Ayatollah’s ships came recklessly close to being blown out of the water on Wednesday, a military spokesman relates.
Patrolling dangerous waters
Naval Forces Central Command issued a statement regarding the incident. Six U.S. warships operating in the dangerous international waters of the North Arabian Gulf were conducting “joint integration operations with U.S. Army AH-64E Apache attack helicopters,” the Navy explains.
Suddenly, without warning, a swarm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy craft provocatively “crossed the bows and sterns of the U.S. vessels at extremely close range and high speeds.” At least one of the IRGCN vessels “came within 10 yards” of the Maui, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter.
“The U.S. crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio, five short blasts from the ships’ horns and long range acoustic noise maker devices, but received no response from the IRGCN.”
An hour of childish teasing
The Iranians seemed to be daring the Apaches to show them their stuff but American forces kept their heads. “The IRGCN’s dangerous and provocative actions increased the risk of miscalculation and collision,” the statement notes. They kept it up for about an hour before they got bored and went home.
The display was not appreciated. Our diplomats are jumping up and down because the pseudo-attack was “not in accordance with the internationally recognized Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.”
The Iranians were especially flirting with disaster since they started serious trouble last year, by attacking oil tankers. Since then, things got really edgy.
Months of rising tensions
The year got off to a tense start when proxy militia forces linked to Iran killed U.S. Contractor Nawres Hamid in a rocket attack. The Pentagon responded with air-strikes against the militia. When militia supporters tried to overrun the American Embassy in Baghdad, we assassinated Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
After that pushed us to the brink of serious conflict, the Ayatollah blinked. He lobbed off a rocket attack on January 8 that was more flash, bang, and bluster than an actual danger. It allowed Iran to save face and they were content to leave it at that. This latest escapade came perilously close to bringing things back to a boil.