U.S. Frigate Opens Fire on Suspected Iranian Gunboat

A U.S. Navy guided-missile frigate opened fire on a suspected Iranian gunboat Sunday when it refused to heed warning shots and continued an “apparently hostile run” toward an American cargo ship, the Pentagon said today.

The gunboat, one of three vessels, later broke off its approach without firing a shot, the Pentagon added, and the frigate Carr and the cargo ship MV Patriot continued on their way through the Persian Gulf.

The Pentagon said that because of darkness, it was not clear whether the gunboat had been hit by the Carr’s .50-caliber machine guns before it turned away.

At the White House, presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater characterized the firing as warning shots. “This was a warning situation,” he said. “To my knowledge, they were not hit.”

The Pentagon said the incident occurred about 6:30 p.m. local time in the southern gulf near the Iranian-held island of Abu Musa.

At the time, the Carr was escorting the Patriot toward the Strait of Hormuz. The Patriot is an American cargo ship, operated under charter to the Military Sealift Command, that was leaving the gulf after delivering supplies to U.S. forces in the region.

The Pentagon declined to say how close the boats came to the Carr and the Patriot, nor would it elaborate on why the American frigate concluded that the one patrol boat might be preparing an attack.