Earlier this week four Iranian Navy vessels approached a US warship in international waters, in a move Washington said can escalate tensions, even though the intention of the four Iranian vessels were not clear. “We are aware that four Iranian vessels approached the USS Nitze while it was transiting international waters in the Strait of Hormuz. As my colleagues at the Pentagon noted yesterday, they assessed that the actions taken by these Iranian vessels were unsafe and unprofessional. At this point, it’s not clear what the intentions of the Iranian ships were, but the behavior is not acceptable, given that this U.S. ship was in international waters. These types of actions and incidents are concerning and they have the potential to unnecessarily escalate tensions,” said Josh Earnest, White House Spokesman.
The Islamic Republic’s praetorian guard, is suspicious of U.S. military activity near Iran’s borders and appears to be sticking to a familiar posture in the Gulf that predates last year’s nuclear accord between Iran and six world powers, including the United States. The United States and other countries are concerned about Iran’s aggressive behavior, as well as its support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, Tehran’s ballistic missile program, and its backing for Shi’ite militias that have abused civilians in Iraq and elsewhere across the region. Nevertheless, the United States and its Western allies are careful not to deteriorate their fragile relations with the Islamic Republic, in a bid to assure the nuclear agreement, which was reached last July, would stay in-tact.