Worried about Iranian attacks on U S Navy?...

....they'll come after the U S only after they stop killing their own...

Iran navy 'friendly fire' incident kills 19 sailors in Gulf of Oman

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52612511

Nineteen sailors have been killed and 15 others injured in an accident involving
Iranian naval vessels in the Gulf of Oman, Iran's navy has said.

Iranian media reported that the support ship Konarak was hit by a new anti-ship
missile being tested by the frigate Jamaran during an exercise on Sunday.

The Konarak had been putting targets out in the water and remained too close to
one, according to the reports.

The navy said the ship was towed ashore and that an investigation had begun.

The incident took place near the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important
waterway through which about a fifth of the world's oil passes.

"On Sunday evening... during naval exercises performed by a number of the naval
force's vessels in the waters of Jask and Chabahar, an accident happened
involving the Konarak light support ship vessel, causing the martyrdom of a
number of brave members of the naval forces," the navy said in a statement on
Monday.

The statement added that the Konarak had been taken to a port for "technical
inspection", but it made no reference to the circumstances of the accident.

The Iranian armed forces are no strangers to error.

In January, an air defence unit fired two surface-to-air missiles at an
unidentified target, bringing down a Ukrainian airliner and killing all those on
board. That mistake came at a time of heightened tension, with the Iranians
expecting a retaliatory US missile strike.

But Sunday's incident took place in very different circumstances - a planned
naval exercise - and raises all sorts of questions about command and control and
the professionalism of the Iranian navy.

Iran is seeking to broaden the sphere of its naval operations and to upgrade its
warships' armament. The frigate Jamaran is part of a new class of home-built
vessels intended to set a new course for Iran's navy.

But it remains, to some extent, an over-looked service. It is the Revolutionary
Guards' flotilla of fast patrol boats that seem to figure most prominently in
Iranian efforts to harass and monitor US and other shipping in the Gulf.




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