Yahoo TV

A US Navy guided-missile destroyer and a Royal Navy frigate responded to an “internationally flagged” merchant vessel that was “harassed” by Iranian fast-attack boats in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, June 4, the US Navy said.

Photos from the encounter, released by DVIDS, show three small vessels approaching a larger ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US Navy said in a statement that the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul and Royal Navy frigate HMS Lancaster responded to a distress call from an “internationally flagged merchant vessel” in the strait at 4:56 pm local time on Sunday.

The vessel was being “harassed” by three Iranian fast-attack boats, assessed to be from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, the statement said.

The situation deescalated approximately an hour later with the departure of the Iranian vessels, and the merchant vessel transited the strait without further incident, the statement concluded.

Iran has not commented on the incident. Credit: US Navy via Storyful