Tense encounter between an Iranian attack flotilla and American ships in the Persian Gulf

Barcos militares de Estados Unidos e Irán tuvieron un tenso encuentro en el Golfo Pérsico este mes, el primer incidente de su clase in aproximadamente an año, in medio de tensiones in the zona por el maltrecho acuerdo nuclear de Irán, según dijo el martes la Marina the United States.

The incident occurred on April 2, as Washington and Tehran announced the opening of negotiations for the reincorporation of the United States into the 2015 agreement. Images released by the US Navy show a ship controlled by the Revolutionary Guards, the Iranian paramilitary force, crossing the path of USCGC Monomoy, causing the US Coast Guard vessel to suddenly stop, which made his engine smoke.

The revolutionary guard does the same with another Coast Guard vessel, USCGC Wrangellsaid Commodore Rebecca Rebarich, Navy spokesperson for the United States Fifth Fleet, based in the Middle East. This type of maneuver involves a risk of collision at sea..

Iran did not initially acknowledge the incident in the southern Persian Gulf area, which did not cause injury or damage.

“The American crews issued several radio warnings from deck to deck, five short beeps of ship sirens and although the (Iranian ship) Harth 55 responded to deck-to-deck calls, it continued its dangerous maneuversSaid Rebarich. “After about three hours during which the United States issued warnings and carried out defensive maneuvers, the (Iranian) ships moved away from the American ships. and they widened the distance between them ”.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the incident, involving the Harth, an Iranian support ship and three Iranian rapid attack ships. The U.S. Coast Guard is operating near Bahrain as part of the Southwest Asia Patrol Forces, its largest contingent outside of the United States.

It is first “dangerous and unprofessional” incident with Iranian ships since April 15, 2020Said Rebarich. There were hardly any similar incidents in 2018, and none in 2019, the spokesperson said.

These incidents almost always involve the Revolutionary Guards, who report only to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Some analysts believe that These episodes aim in part to put pressure on the government of President Hassan Rouhani, after the 2015 nuclear deal with foreign powers. The signatory countries are negotiating these days in Vienna for the return of Iran and the United States to the agreement.

The event also followed several incidents in the Middle East attributed to a covert war between Iran and Israel, with attacks on the smuggling of goods in the region and the sabotage of the Iranian nuclear facility at Natanz.

(With AP information)

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