US commander slams Iran for provocative moves in Gulf

The top commander of US forces in the Middle East sharply criticised Iran today for recent high-speed maneuvers by Iranian patrol boats in the Persian Gulf that in one case prompted a US Navy ship to fire warning shots.

Gen Joseph Votel, commander of US Central Command, told reporters at the Pentagon that these episodes involving the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps naval forces are worrying because they risk triggering a dangerous escalation.

"What we see with the Iranians is not particularly responsible," Votel said. "It is provocative, in some cases; it's unsafe. And it can lead to situations where we may not be able to de-escalate in a time before something happens."

The US maintains a near-continuous naval presence in the Gulf and thus has frequent, mostly benign, encounters with Iranian vessels.

Last Wednesday, the USS Squall, a coastal patrol ship, fired three warning shots on an Iranian boat that was approaching, head-on, another coastal patrol ship the USS Tempest.

US officials said the Iranian boat came within 200 yards of the Tempest and ignored several bridge-to-bridge radio calls and warning flares.

It was one of three encounters that US ships had with Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps boats in the Gulf that day.

One day earlier, four Iranian boats had approached the USS Nitze, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, at high speed in the Strait of Hormuz. The boats veered off after the Nitze fired flares.

Votel praised the US sailors' handling of the incidents. He said the problem seems to lie not with the regular Iranian navy but with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps naval forces, which have been accused by the US numerous times of provocative behavior in the Gulf.

"So this is, in my view, not about the Iranian people," Votel said. "It's about the Iranian regime and their desire to continue to do these types of things that stoke instability or attempt to stoke instability in the region.