Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. Harry S. Truman steams underway on March 29, 2003 in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. U.S. Navy / Getty Images File
The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Navy (IRCGN) carried out what Pentagon officials called a “highly provocative” live-fire rocket test next to the USS Harry S. Truman as it was exiting the Strait of Hormuz. The IRCGN fired unguided rockets 1,500 yards away from multiple ships–including the USS Harry S. Truman–as they were crossing international waters.
“The IRGCN’s actions were highly provocative,” Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, spokesman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet, said Wednesday in a statement to NBC News. “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.”
While the Pentagon official said the Iranians were “clearly not” targeting the ships in the U.S. fleet, the action was “unnecessarily provocative and unsafe.” They added the U.S. ships were in the “internationally recognized maritime traffic lane” when the Iranian navy (IRGCN) announced over maritime radio that it was about to conduct a live-fire exercise and told other vessels to remain clear.
The IRGCN has long threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz to U.S. ships to try to intimidate the U.S. Navy. More recently, it has fired warning shots at a Singapore-flagged commercial ship in the Gulf and seized the Marshall Islands-flagged Maersk Tigris over an alleged business dispute there.
