On Monday, the US Navy reported a maritime incident off the Iranian Coast, in which several weeks ago Iranian boats came “unprofessionally” close to US Coast Guard ships. This report appears to have been done with an eye toward another maritime incident in the same area, which happened just as this report was being made.
In the new, Monday incident, US Navy and Coast Guard ships fired warning shots on Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf. Officials are continuing to emphasize the “unsafe” nature of Iran following US coastal ships so far away from the US coast.
Having US ships shooting at Iranian boats near Iranian waters just out of the blue wouldn’t look good. Yesterday’s report prefaced the incident by giving the impression that this is a persistent problem, and not an unrelated matter from weeks ago.
The reports of the April 2 incident not only started getting people into the mindset of a confrontation, but also allowed the media to remind everyone that President Trump had advocated sinking Iranian ships on sight, which will allow the Biden Administration to frame this as a more measured response.
It certainly is unsafe and unprofessional to deploy coast guard ships so rediculously far from our coast. But I suppose we consider all coasts to be ours.
Bullies are always going to bully, it really is that simple.
Headlines like these don’t even give people second thoughts anymore. Mission certainly accomplished.
Just another provocation to start another war. What’s a Coast Guard ship doing that far from the US coasts?
The Coast Guard needs to protect US shores all over the world.