Iranian FM Blasts Deployment of US Warships in Persian Gulf

Rasa - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lashed out at Washington for deploying its warships thousands of miles away from home, in reaction to the American officials' remarks about the Iranian and US vessels' encounter in the Persian Gulf.

News ID: 429279

Date: 27 April 2017 - 22:49

RNA - "Our Navy operates in — yes, correct — the Persian Gulf, not the Gulf of Mexico. Question is what US Navy doing 7,500 miles from home," Zarif wrote on his twitter page on Wednesday.

The US Navy claimed that a guided-missile destroyer fired a flare toward an Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessel in the Persian Gulf.

Lieutenant Ian McConnaughey of the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said the incident happened on Monday.

He claimed that the Iranian boat came within 1,000m of the USS Mahan.

The lieutenant said the Mahan "made several attempts to contact the Iranian vessel by bridge-to-bridge radio, issuing warning messages and twice sounding the internationally recognized danger signal of five short blasts with the ship's whistle, as well as deploying a flare to determine the Iranian vessel's intention".

The Iranian vessel later sailed away.

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