(Reuters) Idrees Ali - A U.S. Navy coastal patrol ship changed course after a fast-attack craft from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came within 100 yards of it in the Persian Gulf on Sunday in the fourth such incident in less than a month, U.S. Defense Department officials said on Tuesday. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said an Iranian vessel sailed directly in front of the USS Firebolt after seven Iranian ships "harassed" the U.S. ship. A U.S. defense official said there have been 31 similar interactions with Iranian ships this year, almost double the amount from the same period last year. The number of such incidents makes it "very hard for me to believe these are not sanctioned by higher authority" within Iran, said Kenneth Pollack, a former top CIA and White House official who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
2016-09-07 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive