A U.S. Navy ship fired three warning shots at an Iranian military boat after it ignored requests to stop "unprofessional" maneuvers in the northern Arabian Gulf, the Pentagon said Thursday.

ADVERTISEMENT

"They did feel compelled to ultimately fire three warning shots, and the reason for that is, they had ... taken steps already to try to deescalate the situation, appropriate steps, including flares, trying to again, warn the Iranian aircraft away," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook told reporters.

The Iranian ship circled the U.S. ships, coming within 200 yards of the vessels, and would not leave the area, according to CNN.

The U.S. Navy ships then fired several warning flares and attempted to make radio contact with the Iranian ship.

After a brief radio exchange, the Iranians refused to leave, CNN reported, forcing the U.S. ships to follow defensive maritime procedures and fire three warning shots at the Iranian vessel.

Cook said there might have been two additional incidents on Wednesday involving the same two U.S. ships, as well as the USS Stout, and Iranian vessels.

"Bigger picture here, these were incidents that crews deemed were safe and unprofessional," Cook said. "They're not conducting themselves in a way that professional navies do."

On Tuesday, Iranian navy boats approached the USS Nitze at a high speed near the Strait of Hormuz. The Nitze fired 10 flares at the Iranian boats.