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"They did feel
compelled ultimately to fire three warning shots and the reason
for that is... they had taken steps already to try and
de-escalate this situation," spokesman Peter Cook told
reporters.
Tensions have increased in the Gulf in recent days despite an
improvement in relations between Iran and the United States.
Years of mutual animosity eased when Washington lifted sanctions
on Tehran in January after a deal to curb Iran's nuclear
ambitions but serious differences still remain over Iran's
ballistic missile program, Syria and Iraq.
A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity,
said the USS Squall patrol craft fired three warning shots from
a .50 caliber gun in the northern Gulf on Wednesday after
warning flares did not work.
The incident started with three Iranian vessels, but there was
only one around by the time the warning shots were fired, the
official said. He described the Iranian behavior as "unsafe,
unprofessional, and not routine."
At one point, the Iranian vessel came within 200 yards (193
meters) of a U.S. ship, the official said.
Another interaction took place between an Iranian and U.S. ship
on Wednesday, the defense official said but gave few more
details.
The Pentagon earlier this week accused Iranian vessels of
harassing a U.S. warship near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Iran's defense minister said those Iranian vessels
were just doing their job.
“If an American ship enters Iran’s maritime region, it will
definitely get a warning. We will monitor them and, if they
violate our waters, we will confront them,” Defense Minister
Hossein Dehghan said in a statement reported by the Iranian
Students’ News Agency.
A State Department spokeswoman said it was not clear what the
intentions of the Iranian ships were, but the behavior was
unacceptable.
"We believe that these type of actions are of concern, they
unnecessarily escalate tensions," State Department spokeswoman
Elizabeth Trudeau told a briefing.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by Mohammad
Zargham; Editing by Paul Simao and Alistair Bell)
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