Iran Gunboats Swarm, Harass US Navy Ship: With Provocations Escalating, Is Iran Trying To Start World War 3?

With the close maneuverings of seven Iranian gunboats around the USS Firebolt over the weekend, the number of provocative harassment episodes against U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf by Iranian fast-attack boats has nearly half again the number of such actions in 2015. There is obvious concern among American military leaders over these close calls and not unintentional quasi-confrontations. And the salient question is: What does Iran hope to gain from its high seas antics? Is Tehran eager to provoke a military response from the U.S.? Is Iran trying to start World War 3?

CNN reported on September 7 that seven Iranian fast-attack gunboats swarmed around the USS Firebolt, a Cyclone-class naval coastal patrol boat with a complement of 30 sailors, while it navigated the Persian Gulf over the weekend. One fast-attack boat came within 100 yards of the ship, coming to a complete stop in front of the U.S. Navy ship. A U.S. defense official noted that the maneuver was unsafe and unprofessional, an act that could have led to a collision.

Of particular concern to the U.S. Navy and officials in Washington is the growing number of close or harassing maneuverings by Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf. The defense official told CNN that there had been 31 unsafe encounters with Iranian vessels in Gulf waters so far this year. Up from 23 in all of 2015, the total number for 2016 threatens to double last year’s list of near-confrontations.

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The Firebolt incident occurs less than two weeks after a couple of close encounters between U.S. Navy ships and Iranian vessels. In a previous report, CNN described the provocative actions of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard boat that came within 200 yards of the USS Squall on Wednesday, August 24. The Squall fired flares and spoke with the Iranians over the radio to warn the encroaching boat away from the area. When it did not heed the first two entreaties, the Squall fired three shots into the water, a standard maritime warning, to further warn away the Iranian vessel. The same boat was reported to have harassed two other ships in the area as well.

State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau called the maneuverings actions that “unnecessarily escalate tensions” between the U.S. and Iran. She added that Iran’s intentions regarding the incident were unknown.

The USS Squall incident occurred just a day after four Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps vessels engaged in a “high-speed intercept” of the USS Nitze near the Strait of Hormuz. A U.S. Navy official told CNN that the maneuver was deemed “unsafe and unprofessional.” He said that two of the boats turned away, but only after approaching to within 300 yards of the Nitze, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer with a complement of 380 officers and crewmen, which was moving through international waters at the time. The harassing gunboats only backed off after the USS Nitze sent multiple visual and audio warnings.

Prior to the USS Firebolt incident, U.S. Army Gen. Joseph Votel, Commander of U.S. Central Command, admitted that Iranian conduct in the Persian Gulf was concerning.

“In recent days,” he said, “we have witnessed even more provocative activity by the IRGC and Navy vessels. That type of behavior is very concerning, and we hope to see Iran’s naval forces act in a more professional manner.”

Votel believes Iran is attempting to “exert their influence and authority in the region.”

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At the same time, it must be noted that the relationship between Iran and Russia, though somewhat strained, has grown closer of late as well. Russia, as the New York Times noted in August, signed a deal with Iran to use its Hamadan air force base, the first time a foreign power has had access to a base of operations within Iran since World War II.

However, when Russia used the base to fly bombing missions into Syria to hit terrorist and/or rebel positions in that country’s civil war (in which Iran has sided with the government forces of President Bashar al-Assad) in August, Iran revoked permission for Russian use of the base. It is as yet unclear why Tehran did so, but they claimed Russia’s usage for the bombing missions was a “betrayal of trust.” It is also unclear the duration of the revocation might be.

Still, given Russia’s moves to become a key player in the region, with its involvement in the Syrian civil war and its recent cozying up to Iran (the Hadaman-based air strikes into Syria notwithstanding), Iran’s provocative naval maneuverings could be a sign not only of exerting “influence and authority” in the region but also a dangerous disregard for maintaining the peace. Provoking the United States with Russia in support could be Iran’s way of thumbing its nose at America, given that the U.S. will likely do major diplomatic calisthenics to stay out of a war with Iran, especially one that could very well escalate into a major war between major powers. Such a scenario inevitably leads to the fears of confrontations leading to World War 3.

Some, like National Security, have put forth the idea that Iran and Russia have already started World War 3. According to the site, in agreements made between Iran and Russia to prop up a flailing al-Assad regime in Syria (where government forces had lost most of the country to the rebels), the idea was hatched to help ensure the security of Russia’s sole naval port in the Mediterranean and for Iran to lend direct support to al-Assad’s regime to bolster its pro-Shiite governance agenda in the Middle East. In doing so, the actions may have given rise to the onset of World War 3.

Quoting from former GOP congressman and retired Army Lt. Col. Allen West’s own site, National Security maintains that the many nations involved in the various conflicts (the Syrian civil war, Turkey’s conflict with its Kurdish rebels, the war against ISIS in both Syria and Iraq) could lead to military confusion, and that’s just in the war-torn area’s ever-crowding airspace. It is considered a ticking time bomb that could lead to World War 3.

“Folks, say what you will, but there is a global conflagration forming — yes, a World War. That is not fear mongering. That is the truth. Evil looks for voids to fill, [President Barack] Obama has given it a very big one.”

And now, with the escalation in gunboat harassments against the U.S. Navy, there might be another worrisome aspect to consider with regard to a multinational conflict that could easily spiral out of control.

So, could the shaky alliance between Iran and Russia, both nations that are currently under economic sanctions from the United Nations and diplomatically belligerent with the U.S., lead to a devastating World War 3? Is that what Iran is willing to risk with its gunboat harassments in the Persian Gulf in an effort to stand up to the U.S. and try to attain some sort of presence in the Middle East? Are the fears of a looming World War 3 the hobgoblins of conspiracy theorists and at least one former U.S. congressman?

[Photo by Vahid Salemi/AP Images]