American and British naval ships came to the aid of a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz that was being “harassed” by ships belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the US Navy said in a statement.
The statement said that three fast-attack Revolutionary Guard vessels with armed troops on board approached close to the merchant ship on Sunday afternoon. It shared photos taken by a US Navy plane showing three small ships near a commercial vessel in the strait, through which about 20% of the world’s oil is transported.
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The US Navy’s guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul and the Royal Navy’s frigate HMS Lancaster responded to the incident, with the Lancaster sending out a helicopter.
The Navy said the situation “de-escalated” after about an hour when the merchant vessel confirmed that the fast-attack ships had left, and it continued traveling through the strait without further incident.
The Navy did not identify the vessel, but The Associated Press analyzed ship tracking data which showed that a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier called Venture erratically changed course in the strait at the time of the incident.
There have been several maritime incidents involving Iran since the US unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.