Iran Recent Incidents

Fast Inshore Attack Craft

Fast Attack Craft

2008 January

Five Iranian patrol boats crewed by the Revolutionary Guard approached three United States Navy warships in the Strait of Hormuz: the cruiser USS PORT ROYAL, the destroyer USS HOPPER and the frigate USS INGRAHAM.

2009 September

Iran admits that it is building a uranium enrichment plant near Qom, but insists it is for peaceful purposes. The country test-fires a series of medium- and longer-range missiles that put Israel and US bases in the Gulf within potential striking range.

2011 December to Present

The Strait of Hormuz dispute is an ongoing dispute between a coalition of countries and Iran. The dispute arose on 27 December 2011, when Iranian Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz. In late April 2019 Iran said that it will block any shipping if it was barred from using the strategic waterway and in face of US sanctions. Subsequently, a number of naval drills and missile tests were carried out by Iran. A coalition of countries responded by sending a flotilla of warships to deter any Iranian attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz and warned Iran publicly and through letters not to close the Strait.

2015 July

After years of negotiations, world powers reach deal with Iran on limiting Iranian nuclear activity in return for lifting of international economic sanctions.

2016 January

Two United States Navy riverine command boats cruising from Kuwait to Bahrain with a combined crew of nine men and one woman on board strayed into Iranian territorial waters which extend three nautical miles around Farsi Island in Persian Gulf. Patrol craft of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy seized the craft and detained the crew at a military base on Farsi Island for 15 hours.

2019 June

Iran’s air defenses shot down an U.S. RQ-4A Global Hawk BAMS-D operating in international airspace. The BAMS-D is the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance – Demonstrator, the predecessor of the Navy’s MQ-4C Triton. A nearby P-8A Poseidon, within range of the missile systems, recorded the incident.