US Navy Ship Fires Warning Shots after Close Encounter with Iranian Vessels

A US Navy sailor takes part in multinational training exercises aboard the USS Ponce in the Gulf, off the coast of Bahrain's capital Manama on April 10, 2016. (Getty Images)
A US Navy sailor takes part in multinational training exercises aboard the USS Ponce in the Gulf, off the coast of Bahrain's capital Manama on April 10, 2016. (Getty Images)
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US Navy Ship Fires Warning Shots after Close Encounter with Iranian Vessels

A US Navy sailor takes part in multinational training exercises aboard the USS Ponce in the Gulf, off the coast of Bahrain's capital Manama on April 10, 2016. (Getty Images)
A US Navy sailor takes part in multinational training exercises aboard the USS Ponce in the Gulf, off the coast of Bahrain's capital Manama on April 10, 2016. (Getty Images)

A US military ship fired warning shots after three vessels from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) came close to it and another American patrol boat in the Gulf, the United States military said on Tuesday.

Such incidents have occurred occasionally over the past five years, though there has been a relative lull over the past year.

While officials said it was too early to discern the exact motivation of the Iranian forces, they have said that generally in the past such incidents are carried out by local commanders rather than directed by senior Iranian leaders.

"The US crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio and loud-hailer devices, but the IRGCN vessels continued their close range maneuvers," the military statement said.

"The crew of Firebolt then fired warning shots, and the IRGCN vessels moved away to a safe distance from the US vessels," the statement added, using the name for the US Navy patrol ship.

The closest the Iranian fast inshore attack craft came to the American ships was 68 yards (204 feet) during the incident, which took place on Monday in international water in the northern Gulf.

The incident comes as world powers and Iran seek to speed up efforts to bring Washington and Tehran back into compliance with the 2015 nuclear accord, and the United States has reassured its Gulf Arab allies on the status of the talks.

Earlier on Tuesday, the head of US forces in the Middle East said that the United States military was careful not to let incidents with the IRGCN turn into a cycle provocation, though he did not specifically talk about Monday's interaction.

"The activities we typically see from the IRGC Navy are not necessarily activities that are directed by the Supreme Leader or from the Iranian state, rather irresponsible actions by local commanders on the scene," said Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, head of US Central Command.

A US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the area of the Gulf where the incident occurred had a history of IRGCN vessels harassing fishing boats and was not overly concerning.

"The US is not an aggressor... Our forces are trained, however, to conduct effective defensive measures when necessary," the US military statement added.



UN Says 14 Million Children Did Not Receive a Single Vaccine in 2024

A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
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UN Says 14 Million Children Did Not Receive a Single Vaccine in 2024

A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)
A mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya on Oct. 30, 2009. (AP)

More than 14 million children did not receive a single vaccine last year — about the same number as the year before — according to UN health officials. Nine countries accounted for more than half of those unprotected children.

In their annual estimate of global vaccine coverage, released Tuesday, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said about 89% of children under one year old got a first dose of the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine in 2024, the same as in 2023. About 85% completed the three-dose series, up from 84% in 2023.

Officials acknowledged, however, that the collapse of international aid this year will make it more difficult to reduce the number of unprotected children.

In January, US President Trump withdrew the country from the WHO, froze nearly all humanitarian aid and later moved to close the US AID Agency. And last month, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said it was pulling the billions of dollars the US had previously pledged to the vaccines alliance Gavi, saying the group had “ignored the science.”

Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has previously raised questions the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine, which has proven to be safe and effective after years of study and real-world use. Vaccines prevent 3.5 million to 5 million deaths a year, according to UN estimates.

“Drastic cuts in aid, coupled with misinformation about the safety of vaccines, threaten to unwind decades of progress,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

UN experts said that access to vaccines remained “deeply unequal” and that conflict and humanitarian crises quickly unraveled progress; Sudan had the lowest reported coverage against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough.

The data showed that nine countries accounted for 52% of all children who missed out on immunizations entirely: Nigeria, India, Sudan, Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Angola.

WHO and UNICEF said that coverage against measles rose slightly, with 76% of children worldwide receiving both vaccine doses. But experts say measles vaccine rates need to reach 95% to prevent outbreaks of the extremely contagious disease. WHO noted that 60 countries reported big measles outbreaks last year.

The US is now having its worst measles outbreak in more than three decades, while the disease has also surged across Europe, with 125,000 cases in 2024 — twice as many as the previous year, according to WHO.

Last week, British authorities reported a child died of measles in a Liverpool hospital. Health officials said that despite years of efforts to raise awareness, only about 84% of children in the UK are protected.

“It is hugely concerning, but not at all surprising, that we are continuing to see outbreaks of measles,” said Helen Bradford, a professor of children’s health at University College London.

“The only way to stop measles spreading is with vaccination,” she said in a statement. “It is never too late to be vaccinated — even as an adult.”