Iran, US warships in tense Middle East encounter

Iran has not commented on the incident in Persian Gulf, the first such encounter since last April.

American and Iranian warships have had a tense encounter in the waters of the Gulf earlier this month, the first such incident in about a year amid wider turmoil in the region over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal, the US Navy said on Tuesday. Footage – dated April 2 – released by the Navy showed a ship commanded by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) cut in front of the USCGC Monomoy, causing the US Coast Guard vessel to come to an abrupt stop with its engine smoking. The IRGC did the same with another Coast Guard vessel, the USCGC Wrangell, said Commander Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the US Navy’s Middle East-based 5th Fleet.