A trio of armed Iranian speedboats swarmed around a merchant vessel sailing through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, according to the U.S. Navy.
At around 4:56 p.m. local time, the unnamed merchant ship sent out a distress signal and reported the three “fast-attack craft with armed personnel” had begun following them at a close distance. A black and white photo taken by a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft showed the three speedboats, believed to have been operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN), cruising alongside the merchant ship.
The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74) and UK Royal Navy frigate HMS Lancaster (F 229) responded to the merchant ship’s distress call, according to a press statement from the U.S. Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain. As part of the response, the Lancaster launched a helicopter that helped monitor the scene….