Four small boats from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) harassed a U.S. destroyer Tuesday near the Strait of Hormuz during a “high speed intercept,” according to multiple reports Wednesday.

Two of the Iranian vessels came within 300 yards of the USS Nitze during the incident, behavior that was deemed "unsafe and unprofessional,” the reports said.

Video of the incident was circulating online Wednesday.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Nitze fired ten flares in the direction of the Iranian boats and sounded the ship's whistle, according to The Associated Press, which cited an anonymous U.S. defense official. But the Iranian boats ignored the warnings.

The U.S. ship had to alter course to get farther away from the Iranian vessels, according to Reuters, which cited an anonymous defense official.

The incident is the type that would lead to an official diplomatic protest if the United States had diplomatic relations with Iran, the official added.

The Iranian force involved is the same one that captured 10 U.S. sailors in January after their two boats accidentally entered Iranian waters.

The strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which about a third of all oil traded by sea passes, has also been the site of confrontations between U.S. and Iranian ships previously.

In December, Iran conducted a live-fire exercise with little notice just 1,500 yards away from U.S. and French aircraft carriers that were transiting the strait. And in January, in the Persian Gulf near the strait, the Iranian military warned a U.S. Navy ship that it was too close to a naval drill.