IRGC Warns U.S. Navy Over ‘Provocative’ Moves

Date: 11 May 2021 - 21:48

News ID: ۹۰۱۵۳

TEHRAN (Dispatches) — Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corpse (IRGC) on Tuesday rejected the U.S. navy’s claim that fast-approaching Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz sparked a tense encounter in the already sensitive region.
The IRGC’s website, sepahnews.com, published a statement Tuesday saying Americans were guilty of using "false narratives and unprofessional behavior” and should more strictly "abide by international regulations.” Specifically, the statement said the IRGC’s navy warned the U.S. vessels to stop their "provocative and aimless shooting.”
A day earlier, the U.S. claimed the IRGC sent 13 armed speedboats too close to U.S. navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. The Americans said a Coast Guard cutter fired warning shots when two of the Iranian boats came dangerously close.
It was the second time in two weeks that a U.S. ship opened fire during routine IRGC patrols in the Persian Gulf.
In the latest incident, Kirby claimed 13 Iranian vessels maneuvered at high speed toward six Navy ships that were escorting the guided missile submarine USS Georgia through the Strait on Monday. The sub was sailing on the surface.
The six navy escort ships included the guided missile cruiser USS Monterey. "They were acting very aggressively,” Kirby said of the Iranian boats.
On Tuesday, the IRGC said the U.S. navy’s account of the encounter in the strategic Hormuz Strait was "untrue” and part of an "escape-forward” strategy as it warned the Americans not to endanger
shipping security in the Persian Gulf.
In its statement, the IRGC said its patrol vessels were conducting their "routine daily missions in the territorial waters” of Iran on Monday when they encountered seven U.S. vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
It said the Americans displayed unprofessional behavior such as "flying helicopters, shooting flares and aimless, provocative shooting.”
The IRGC Navy, the statement added, warned the U.S. vessels against their "dangerous and unprofessional behavior while maintaining the legal distance within the framework of maritime instructions and regulations,” after which they corrected their behavior and continued on their way.
The Iranian force further urged the Americans to seriously adhere to international sea lane regulations.
The IRGC Navy said the "incorrect and untrue” claim by the Pentagon spokesman about the incident was aimed at pretending that the U.S. forces feel responsibility for preventing dangers and miscalculations.
"This is while it is the Americans that have, through their illegitimate, become the source of instability, threats and dangers, causing insecurity in the region, including in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf,” it said.
It emphasized that powerful Iranian naval forces regard an "illegal, unprofessional and high-risk” attitude by outsiders, particularly the terrorist U.S. navy, as a redline and are prepared to give a decisive response to any miscalculation courageously while conducting their missions in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz with peace.
In a tweet, Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif referred to the fact that the waters that U.S. naval forces are patrolling are close to Iranian border and mocked Washington for dispatching coast "guards” to the Middle Eastern waters.
The encounter was the second such incident in two weeks.
On April 21, the IRGC released strikingly precise and close footage of an American aircraft carrier captured by the force’s drones during an overflight of the vessel in the Persian Gulf.