The United States Navy has fired multiple warning shots at an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel in the Persian Gulf, the Pentagon said.
The earning shots occurred at around 03:00 local time (00:00 GMT), as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard ship began to approach the USS Thunderbolt in the region.
United States defense officials said The Iranian boat came within 450ft of the USS Thunderbolt in a provocative act, while ignoring attempts from the United States Navy to make radio calls and the Thunderbolt’s ship whistle.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard is a paramilitary force that answers directly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Iranian ship stopped after the warning shots were fired from the Thunderbolt, according to the US Navy.
The shots then led to the Iranian ship being accompanied by several US Coast Guard vessels, which guided it away from American forces as it continued on its way.
"The IRGCN boat was coming in at a high rate of speed. It did not respond to any signals, they did not respond to any bridge-to-bridge calls, they felt there was no choice except to fire the warning shots,” stated the Department of Defense official.
Hostilities continue to rise between the two nations and have only increased after the Obama Administration pushed forth what President Trump calls the “disastrous” Iranian Nuclear Deal that has only emboldened the Islamic nation of Iran.
Iran continues to defy the United States and the United Nations across international waters which have led to a series of such incidents.
President Trump made clear during his campaign that the time for messing around is over, stating that any Iranian ships provoking or threatening the US Navy in the Gulf would be "shot out of the water".
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