US-chartered vessel fires warning shots in Gulf: official

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — A vessel chartered by the US military fired warning shots at two speedboats believed to be Iranian that approached it in the Gulf, a US defense official said Friday.

The incident involving the Westward Venture occurred Thursday morning "dozens of miles" from the Iranian coastline in the Gulf, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"A couple of fast boats got within a couple of hundred yards (meters) from the ship, and they fired some warning shots at it," said the official, adding that the speedboats then turned away.

In Iran, state-run Al Alam television cited a source in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard navy as denying that Iranian boats had been in a confrontation with a foreign vessel.

"If shots were possibly...