Shots Fired From U.S. Warship Scare Off Iranian Gunboats In Persian Gulf

Warnings shots echoed through the north Persian Gulf as Naval warships fired upon armed speed boats belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN).

According to an official U.S. Navy statement following the incident, the fast inshore attack crafts (FIACS), the Iranian speedboats, begin to act in an unsafe manner, coming within the standard of 68 yards of the two patrolling ships. The Navy ship USS Firebolt (PC 10) fired warning shots to dictate the Iranian speedboats to move away from the two ships. There has been a video that was released showing the nighttime incident.

The video shows lights that can be seen on the water before a massive crack echoes through the air. A tracer round appears to streak towards one of the ship’s lights and bounces off of the water not far from the FIACS. A spokesman representing the Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet could not immediately confirm that the video showed a tracer being fired.

The Navy said that throughout the incident Iranian speedboats ignored warnings from Firebolt and the Coast Guard’s USCGC Baranoff (WPB 1318). The U.S. ships issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio and loud-hailer devices.

“Throughout the interaction, U.S. forces proactively communicated with the IRGCN vessels and executed pre-planned responses to reduce the risk of miscalculation, avoid a collision, and to de-escalate the situation,” the Navy press release states. “The IRGCN’s actions increased the risk of miscalculation and/or collision, were not in accordance with the internationally recognized Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) ‘rules of the road’ or internationally recognized maritime customs. In addition, the IRGCN actions were not in accordance with the obligation under international law to act with due regard for the safety of other vessels in the area.”

The incident came shortly after the Navy reported a similar April 2 incident in which three more Iranian armed speedboats and a larger 180-foot twin-hulled support ship swarmed around a pair of U.S. Coast Guard cutters.