Iranian naval ships fired several rockets near U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz last week, according to a report.
A spokesman for U.S. Central Command said Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps vessels fired “several unguided rockets” about 1,500 yards from the U.S. aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, the destroyer Bulkeley and a French frigate. Commercial shipping vessels were also nearby during the “highly provocative” live fire test.
“Firing weapons so close to passing coalition ships and commercial traffic within an internationally recognized maritime traffic lane is unsafe, unprofessional and inconsistent with international maritime law,” Cmdr. Kyle Raines, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, told The Associated Press.
Raines said the Iranians gave only 23 minutes notice of the live-fire exercise via maritime radio.
The Strait of Hormuz, bordered by Iran and Oman, is 21 miles wide at its narrowest point and the shipping lane is only about 2 miles wide in either direction, giving ships little room to maneuver.
The narrow maritime highway was the site of more conflict with Iran this year when members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps fired at and boarded a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship, the Maersk Tigris, in May while it was transiting the strait.
Iranians tried to direct the ship into Iranian waters, and fired at it when the cargo vessel’s captain refused. They held the ship and about 30 crew members for more than a week over what the Iranians said was a business dispute with the shipping company.
U.S. Navy ships escorted a handful of U.S. and British-flagged vessels through the strait in the days following the incident.
