WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Coast Guard ship fired about 30 warning shots after 13 vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) came close to it and other American Navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said on Monday.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the warning shots were fired after the Iranian fast boats came as close as 150 yards (450 feet) of six U.S. military vessels that were escorting the guided-missile submarine Georgia.
The U.S. coast guard cutter fired the warning shots from a .50 caliber machine gun before the Iranian vessels left, Kirby said.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
