U.S. Navy fires warning shot at Iranian ship

Another tense encounter between American and Iranian ships in the Persian Gulf ended with warning shots fired by the U.S. military Tuesday. The USS Thunderbolt was taking part in an exercise with American and other coalition vessels when an Iranian patrol boat approached it, a military official said. The Iranian ship did not respond to radio calls, flares, or sirens as it came within 150 yards of the Thunderbolt, forcing U.S. sailors to fire the warning shots. The Iranian boat went “dead in the water” after the shots, and the vessels all left the area. The U.S. Navy recorded 35 instances of what it described as “unsafe and/or unprofessional” interactions with Iranian forces in 2016, compared to 23 in 2015.