WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th May, 2021) A US Coast Guard cutter on Monday fired dozens of warning shots to fend off multiple Iranian attack boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Defense Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
"After following all the appropriate and established procedures ... the US Coast Guard Cutter Maui fired approximately 30 warning shots from a 50-caliber machine gun. After the second round of warning shots, the 13 fast attack craft from the IRGCN [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy] broke contact," Kirby said during a briefing.
Kirby said the boats were armed with machine guns and conducted "unsafe and unprofessional maneuvers" in close proximity to six US Navy vessels, including the cruiser Monterey, which were escorting the guided-missile submarine Georgia through the Strait of Hormuz. The latter is strategic passage between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
The US Fifth fleet said in a statement that two of the 13 IRGCN vessels broke away from the larger group, transited to the opposite side of the US formation and approached Maui and the patrol coastal ship Squall from behind at a high rate of speed (in excess of 32 knots) with their weapons uncovered and manned.
Before opening fire, US crews issued multiple warning to Iranian vessels, including bridge-to-bridge verbal messages, acoustic device signals and five short blasts of the ship's horn, the internationally recognized danger signal.
Monday's incident is the second instance in recent weeks of US Navy resorting to warning shots to defuse altercations with the IRGC boats in the Persian Gulf.
The Fifth fleet urged Iran's forces to operate with due regard for the safety of all vessels and vowed to continue to fly and sail "anywhere international law allows.
