US warships fire 30 warning shots at 13 Iranian attack boats harassing them in Strait of Hormuz

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The Department of Defense announced on Monday that 13 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy fast-attack boats harassed a formation of six U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting a U.S. ship to fire 30 warning shots.

DOD spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a press briefing that the group of 13 IRGC Navy fast-attack boats “approached the U.S. formation at high speed, closing in as close as 150 yards.” US Coast Guard Cutter Maui fired a total of 30 warning shots from a .50 caliber machine gun in two volleys — one volley as the IRGC boats were 300 yards away, and then a second volley as they were 150 yards away.

After the second volley, the IRGC boats “broke contact,” Kirby said.

Kirby described the IRGC’s action as “unsafe and unprofessional maneuvers [that] failed to exercise due regard for the safety of U.S. forces as required under international law.”

Kirby said the formation of six U.S. ships included USS Monterey and US Coast Guard Cutter Maui, among other unnamed ships who were escorting the guided-missile submarine USS Georgia.

The Monday incident is the second time U.S. warships have been forced to fire warning shots at Iranian speedboats in as many weeks. On April 26, another pair of U.S. ships, the USS Firebolt (PC 10) and USCGC Baranoff (WPB 1318), were forced to fire warning shots at Iranian speedboats that were harassing them in the dark. The Iranian speedboats, designated as fast inshore attack craft (FIACs), acted in an unsafe manner, coming within 68 yards of the Navy and Coast Guard patrol ships.

On April 2, prior to the April 26 interaction between U.S. and Iranian vessels, three more Iranian armed speedboats and a larger 180-foot twin-hulled support ship swarmed around a pair of U.S. Coast Guard cutters. The 180-foot Iranian catamaran-like vessel, known as the Harth 55, even sailed across the bow of one of the Coast Guard vessels, coming within 70 feet of the U.S. vessel, risking a collision.

The Monday incident between the Iranian and U.S. vessels also comes days after one of the U.S. vessels involved, the USS Monterey, seized thousands of Chinese and Russian weapons from a

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