A US Coast Guard ship fired 30 warning shots from a machine gun during an 'unsafe' encounter with Iranian fast-attack boats

• A US Coast Guard ship fired more than 30 warning shots during an "unsafe" encounter with Iranian boats.
• Thirteen Iranian vessels closed rapidly with six US Navy warships escorting a submarine.
• This is the second time in less than a month US ships have fired warning shots due to Iranian actions.

A US Coast Guard vessel fired roughly 30 warning shots on Monday to drive away Iranian fast-attack boats in an "unsafe" encounter in the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon said Monday.

"A large group of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, also known as the IRGCN, fast boats conducted unsafe and unprofessional maneuvers and failed to exercise due regard for the safety of US forces," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said.

During the incident, 13 IRGCN fast-attack boats approached at high speed and closed to within 150 yards of a formation of six US Navy vessels escorting the guided-missile submarine USS Georgia. The US Navy said that the IRGCN was "unnecessarily close" and "put the ships and their crews in immediate danger."

"Two of the 13 IRGCN vessels broke away from the larger group, transited to the opposite side of the US formation," the US Navy's 5th Fleet said in a statement. The boats approached two US ships from behind "at a high rate of speed (in excess of 32 knots) with their weapons uncovered and manned."

After sounding the horn, reaching out over bridge-to-bridge radio transmissions, trying other forms of communication, the Coast Guard cutter Maui fired a total of about 30 warning shots with a .50-caliber machine gun. The IRGCN vessels withdrew after the second round of warning shots.

The first round of warning shots was fired when the IRGCN vessels were 300 yards out. The second round of shots was fired at 150 yards.

Monday's incident marks the second time in less than a month US forces have fired warning shots in response to actions taken by the IRGCN.

In late April, US Navy coastal patrol ship USS Firebolt fired warning shots after three armed IRGCN fast-attack boats came "unnecessarily close" to it and US Coast Guard patrol boat Baranoff as they operated in the Persian Gulf.

"Sadly," Kirby told reporters Monday, "harassment by the IRGC Navy is not a new phenomenon." He explained that it is a threat that the commanding officers and crews of US ships, especially those operating in and around the Persian Gulf and the critical chokepoint that is the Strait of Hormuz, are trained to address.

"They have the right of self-defense," he said of US vessels, adding that "they have the means at their disposal to defend their ships and their crews." He then turned his attention to the actions of the IRGCN.

"As we said at the top, it's unsafe, it's unprofessional, and this kind of activity is the kind of activity that could lead to somebody getting hurt and could lead to a real miscalculation there in the region," Kirby said, emphasizing that such behavior is not in anyone's interests.

Asked at what point the US would take action to sink the Iranian vessels that harass US forces in the region, the Pentagon spokesman said that he would not comment on rules of engagement.