Boats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are said to have pressed US ships off Kuwait in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s leadership did not comment on the allegations.
The US military has accused Iranian naval vessels of “dangerous and bullying” manoeuvres near US ships in the Persian Gulf. Eleven boats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have repeatedly approached US warships off Kuwait. The US military’s fifth fleet, which is based in Bahrain, said that they had reached the six US ships in the north of the Persian Gulf at high speeds, some of them up to nine meters. The US ships would have avoided a collision with evasive manoeuvres. There are said to have been no injuries.

The boats of the Iranian naval unit did not respond to radio signals or loud warning signals from the ships during the incident, the fleet said. It was only after an hour that the Iranian ships answered by radio and then left. With their “provocative” behaviour, they violated the safety rules of shipping and international law.

The incident occurred in international waters, where the US ships conducted an exercise that included Apache attack helicopters. The ships included the destroyer USS Paul Hamilton, the landing base USS Lewis B.Puller and the patrol ship USCGC Maui. The Iranian leadership did not comment on the incident. The Farsi news agency reported, but without comment from an official body. The agency is considered to be related to the Revolutionary Guard.