CNN: Iran denied a report that several of its boats taunted a U.S. Navy vessel in the Persian Gulf on Thursday night, according to IRNA, Iran’s official news agency. TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Iran denied a report that several of its boats taunted a U.S. Navy vessel in the Persian Gulf on Thursday night, according to IRNA, Iran’s official news agency.
A U.S. military official told CNN Friday that the USS Typhoon, a small patrol craft, was approached by three small Iranian boats in a “taunting manner.”
“There has been no confrontation between Iranian boats and the U.S. [Fifth”> Fleet,” IRNA quoted an unnamed Iranian source as saying.
The U.S. military source said U.S. Navy officers conducted bridge-to-bridge communications with the Iranian boats and two of them then turned away. But one came within 200 yards of the Typhoon, prompting it to fire a warning flare. The Iranian boat then turned away.
IRNA said the U.S. media “tries to portray the Persian Gulf as a turbulent area in order to prepare the grounds for the permanent presence of U.S. forces in the region.”
The confrontation is not considered serious, the U.S. official said.
