US Ship Fires Warning Shots at Iranian Boats in Gulf Escalation

A U.S. Navy ship fired three warning shots near Iranian vessels in the latest naval incident instigated by Iran against the United States.

The escalation comes after a series of incidents in the Persian Gulf this week, just one day after four small Iranian boats raced toward the USS Nitze destroyer at high speed until the U.S. sailors fired flares.

This time an Iranian ship sailed within 200 yards of the USS Squall in the Northern Persian Gulf on Wednesday.

The USS Squall then decided to fire the three warning shots from a .50 caliber gun after warning flares did not work.

"My understanding is they were in this instance, they did feel compelled ultimately to fire three warning shots and the reason for that is they had used steps -- they had taken steps already to try and deescalate the situation, appropriate steps, including flares. Trying to, again, warn the Iranian craft away," Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook confirmed.

"And so they felt the need to take an additional step to try and deescalate the situation and that was, again, to fire these warning shots," he said.

An additional interaction between the Iranian and U.S. ships took place on Wednesday, but officials released few details.

The incident earlier this week against the USS Nitze near the Strait of Hormuz caused special concern. The Pentagon says the USS Nitze was definitely in international waters as the four Iranian boats harassed the U.S. warship on Tuesday.

Tensions have increased overall in the Gulf and serious differences remain over Iran's ballistic missile program.