Posted on 10/07/21
| News Source: Times of Israel
Iran’s state TV reported on Thursday that speedboats belonging to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard have intercepted a United States vessel in the Persian Gulf. A US Navy spokesman said that he was not aware of any such encounter at sea over the past few days.
The region remains on edge over Iran’s escalating nuclear program. Talks in Vienna to revive Tehran’s now-tattered 2015 accord with world powers have stalled since June, with no date set for their resumption.
Thursday’s Iranian report aired footage that the TV station said was filmed from one of the Guard speedboats. It shows a vessel with the US flag and several personnel on board as the speedboat appears to be chasing it.
A voice is heard in Farsi, saying: “Keep chasing them.” The report did not say when the encounter took place.
Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a spokesman for the US Navy’s Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said that he wasn’t aware of any sort of unsafe interaction with Iran in the last two days.