Pentagon says U.S. ships harassed by Iranians

By Think Progress

“In what is being called a serious provocation, Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz,” Pentagon officials said. According to one official, “Five small [Iranian] boats were acting in a very aggressive way… and causing our ships to take evasive maneuvers.” The AP reports:

“There were no injuries but there very well could have been,” he said, adding that the Iranian boats turned away “literally at the very moment that U.S. forces were preparing to open fire” in self defense.

He said he didn’t have the precise transcript of communications that passed between the two forces, but the Iranians radioed something to the effect that “we’re coming at you and you’ll explode in a couple minutes.”

UPDATE: A White House statement in response to the incident: “We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future.”