Tehran has shared footage of a recent incident between Iranian and US vessels to back up its earlier statement that Washington’s claims of its warships being harassed in the Persian Gulf were “fake stories.”
The video by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows the events of last Wednesday when the American vessels were intercepted by several Iranian boats with machine guns aboard, and with gunners looking set to put them to use if necessary.
The tense moment didn’t escalate into an armed confrontation, but caused a heated exchange in accusations between the two archrivals. Washington was first to report the incident, saying that the Iranians ”buzzed” their ships in international waters, while behaving in “a dangerous and provocative” manner. But
Tehran brushed off those claims, describing the US patrol in the area as “adventurism” and accusing the Americans of not following international law and maritime protocols regulating navigation in the Persian Gulf.
The US account of the intercept was nothing, but “false and fake stories,” which only proved that “the Americans are interested in the Hollywood scenarios,” it said.
The US Navy is regularly sent on missions in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman with the intended aim of protecting oil shipping routes from Iran. Tehran has repeatedly decried such patrols, saying that they increase tension in the region and vowed to respond by force to any aggressive outbursts by the Americans.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
