A source at the Pentagon denied any encounter between American and Iranian warships in the Gulf and added that the video broadcasted by Iran is old and may have been reaired today coinciding with the celebration of Iran's Navy Day as a form of propaganda.
On Thursday, Iranian state television announced that fast boats belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard intercepted an American ship in the Arabian Gulf. A spokesperson for the U.S. Navy stated that there had been no knowledge of any such confrontation at sea in recent days.
The region remains tense due to Iran's escalation of its nuclear program. Talks in Vienna to revive the Iran nuclear deal with world powers have been stalled since June, with no date set for resuming them.
The Iranian report on Thursday aired a video that the television claimed was filmed from aboard one of the Revolutionary Guard’s fast boats. The video showed a vessel flying the American flag with several crew members aboard, while it appeared that the boat was chasing it. A voice in the background said in Persian, "Continue to pursue them."
The report did not clarify when the confrontation took place. Timothy Hawkins, a spokesperson for the U.S. Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, stated that he was not aware of any unsafe interactions of this nature with Iran in the past two days.
This report is the first of its kind in recent months. In May, the Revolutionary Guard rejected U.S. Navy claims that Iranian boats had approached rapidly in the Strait of Hormuz, which sparked a tense situation following the United States' announcement that the Revolutionary Guard had sent 13 armed fast boats near U.S. Navy vessels in the strait. At that time, the United States stated that one of its Coast Guard boats had fired warning shots when two Iranian boats approached dangerously.
