IRAN'S HISTORY OF NAVAL PROVOCATIONS

"I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea."

-President Donald J. Trump, Twitter, April 22, 2020

Iran has long used its naval forces to terrorize the international maritime community – this is not a new phenomenon. In 2015, during negotiations of the Iran Deal and after its adoption, the U.S. Navy recorded 22 incidents of unsafe and unprofessional conduct by the...

IRGC Navy (IRGCN), many that risked collision. An additional 36 incidents of unsafe and unprofessional conduct were recorded in 2016.
This includes the January 2016 incident where IRGC naval forces seized two U.S. Navy riverine boats and detained ten U.S. sailors for a...

period of 15 hours, violating their rights under the Geneva Convention by parading them in front of their propaganda cameras. When President Trump took office, he initiated a comprehensive review of the United States' Iran policy in light of the Iran Deal's failure to address...

the regime's growing threats to international peace & security. During this review period, Iran continued its dangerous naval activity.