Raw- Video Shows Iranian Boats Near US Ship
TEHRAN, Iran – ASSOCIATED PRESS | August 25, 2016 — Iran’s naval forces will warn or confront any foreign ship entering the country’s territorial waters, the Iranian defense minister said Thursday, remarks that came after an incident this week involving a U.S. warship.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency [affiliated to the terrorist Quds force] quoted Gen. Hosein Dehghan as saying that “if any foreign vessel enters our waters, we warn them, and if it’s an invasion, we confront.” He added that Iranian boats patrol to monitor traffic and foreign vessels in its territorial waters.
Dehghan’s comments came after four vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard approached a U.S. destroyer on Tuesday in what an American defense official described as a “high speed intercept” near the Strait of Hormuz.
An Iranian warship and speed boats take part in a naval war game
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said two of the Iranian vessels came within 300 yards of the USS Nitze in an incident in international waters in the narrow strait.
U.S. Navy video of the incident obtained by The Associated Press shows American sailors on the Nitze firing flares and sounding the warship’s horn as the Iranian boats approached.
This Seahawk helicopter FLIR video shows Iranian vessel firing rockets near a U.S. aircraft carrier
This June 24, 2016 US Navy handout photo shows the Arleigh Burke Class guided-missile destroyer USS Nitze (DDG 94) operating in the Mediterranean Sea.
Admiral John Richardson
Earlier, U.S. Adm. John Richardson said the incident involving the Nitze reflects the greater competition the U.S. is facing at sea and underscores the naval tensions with Tehran, which include other similar incidents.
In January, Iran briefly detained 10 U.S. Navy sailors who mistakenly steered into Iranian waters.
Last December, Iranian ships fired rockets near U.S. warship and other vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and a month later flew an unarmed drone over the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.