US Navy issues warning to Iran
20 May, 2020
In an alert that appeared aimed squarely at Iran, the U.S. Navy issued a warning on Tuesday to mariners in the Gulf to remain 100 meters (yards) away from U.S. warships or risk being “interpreted as a threat and at the mercy of lawful defensive measures.”
The notice to mariners, that was first reported by Reuters, follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat last month to fire on any Iranian ships that harass Navy vessels.
"Armed vessels approaching within 100 meters of a U.S. naval vessel may be interpreted as a threat," based on the text of the notice.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the brand new notice to mariners had not been a change in the U.S. military’s rules of engagement.
The Pentagon has explained that Trump’s threat was meant to underscore the Navy’s to self-defence.
The Bahrain-based U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement that its notice was “designed to enhance safety, minimize ambiguity and decrease the risk of miscalculation.”
It follows an incident last month where 11 Iranian vessels came close to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Gulf, in what the U.S. military called “dangerous and provocative” behaviour.
At one point, the Iranian vessels came within 10 yards (9 meters) of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Maui, the U.S. military said.
Trump’s threat followed that incident, which Tehran, subsequently, said was the fault of america.
The head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards taken care of immediately Trump by threatening to destroy U.S. warships if its security is threatened in the Gulf.
The back-and-forth is just the latest exemplory case of razor-sharp tension between Washington and Tehran, which includes steadily escalated since 2018 when Trump withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear manage six world powers and reimposed crippling sanctions.
Animosity reached historic heights in early January when america killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad.
Iran retaliated on Jan. 9 by firing missiles at bases in Iraq, causing brain injuries among U.S. troops at one of these.
Close interactions with Iranian military vessels weren't uncommon in 2016 and 2017. On several occasions, U.S. Navy ships fired warning shots at Iranian vessels when they got too close.
But Iran had halted such manoeuvres before the April incident.
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