--- title: "Iran’s Used Its Wacky Catamaran To Cut Off U.S. Coast Guard Ships In The Persian Gulf" description: "One of Iran's oddest ships was used to torment U.S. Coast Guard crews operating in the Persian Gulf." date: "2021-04-27" modified: "2021-04-27" authors: - name: "Thomas Newdick" job_title: "Staff Writer" link: "https://www.twz.com/authors/thomas-newdick.md" url: "https://www.twz.com/40348/irans-used-its-wacky-catamaran-to-cut-off-u-s-coast-guard-ships-in-the-persian-gulf" categories: - "Around The Globe" - "Cutters" - "Iran" - "Middle East" - "Navies" - "News & Features" - "Persian Gulf" - "Sea" - "U.S. Coast Guard" tags: - "AC-130W" - "AH-64" - "Catamaran" - "Harth 55" - "Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran" - "IRGC" - "IRGCN" - "Island class" - "persian gulf" - "Shahid Nazeri" - "US Coast Guard" - "US Navy" --- # Iran’s Used Its Wacky Catamaran To Cut Off U.S. Coast Guard Ships In The Persian Gulf ![]() *www.twz.com* The U.S. Navy has released [video]() and [images]() showing an encounter between two U.S. Coast Guard cutters and an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps catamaran in the Persian Gulf earlier this month. In what the U.S. Navy describes as an “unprofessional interaction” by Iran, the Revolutionary Guard Corps boat *Shahid Nazeri* is seen crossing at high speed in front of the Coast Guard vessels, reportedly coming as close as 70 yards to the American ships, which have to take evasive action to avoid it. The incident, first [reported]() yesterday by the *Wall Street Journal*, took place on April 2. However, the U.S. Navy released the imagery today, noting in a statement that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) boat had “repeatedly crossed the bows of the U.S. vessels at an unnecessarily close range, requiring U.S. ships to make defensive maneuvers to avoid the risk of a possible collision.” ![message-editor%2F1619531947000-irgccatamaranpersiangulf.jpg]() *The *Harth 55* class boat *Shahid Nazeri* passes one of the U.S. vessels “at an unnecessarily close range.”, *U.S. NAVY** The U.S. Navy says that the *Harth 55* class *Shahid Nazeri* was accompanied by three fast attack craft (FAC) or fast inshore attack craft (FIAC) of undisclosed types during this incident. The IRGCN operates a [wide array of small boats]() in these general categories. The *Shahid Nazeri* is a larger catamaran-type, high-speed design that appears to be armed with a 20mm cannon and has a helipad on top of its rear deck. https://youtube.com/embed/wv05J4-gI8o The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) boats involved were the USCGC *Wrangell* (WPB-1332) and USCGC *Monomoy* (WPB-1326), two [*Island* class]() patrol cutters. They were conducting routine maritime security patrols in the southern Persian Gulf, according to the U.S. Navy, which said that these patrols are routinely carried out in international waters. The *Harth 55* crossed the bows of both *Wrangell* and *Monomoy* at a 70-yard closest point of approach (CPA), according to a U.S. Navy statement. The Iranian boat then “closed aggressively” on *Wrangell*’s bow, and the cutter maneuvered out of its path while sounding five short warning blasts from the ship’s horn. As well as sounding the horn, the crews on the two USCG ships also issued “multiple warnings” to the Iranians over open radio channels. The U.S. Navy says the IRGCN vessel responded to the bridge-to-bridge radio queries, but it’s unclear how these conversations went. Regardless, according to the U.S. Navy account, the *Harth 55* continued its “unsafe and unprofessional” maneuvers before eventually moving away from the cutters. The entire incident lasted for roughly three hours. ![message-editor%2F1619531489518-shahid\_nazeri\_speed\_vessel\_by\_tasnimnews\_3.jpg]() *The *Shahid Nazeri* during its commissioning ceremony in September 2016., *Hossein Ostovar/Tasnim News** “U.S. naval forces continue to remain vigilant and are trained to act in a professional manner, while our commanding officers retain the inherent right to act in self-defense,” the U.S. Navy release concluded. ![message-editor%2F1619532228880-210402-n-no146-1003.jpg]() *The *Harth 55*, left, crosses the bow of the USCGC *Monomoy*. , *U.S. NAVY** The appearance of the *Shahid Nazeri*, which was officially commissioned in 2016, is notable in itself, given how little time the vessel seems to spend at sea. The catamaran did make participate, at least one some level, in a Russian-Iranian naval exercise earlier this year. The ship's actual capabilities [have long seemed very limited](), though the IRGC has released pictures in the past showing an AB-206 helicopter armed with an anti-ship missile onboard. https://twitter.com/_/status/1361720695181496320 ![message-editor%2F1619543185737-ab-206-catamaran.jpg]() *An IRGC AB-206 helicopter armed with an anti-ship missile onboard the *Shahid Nazeri*., *Government of Iran via USN** Iran now appears to be in [the process of constructing]() at least one example of a [new class of catamarans](), reportedly named the *Shahid Soleimani* class. There are indications that this new design will itself be [armed with anti-ship missiles](). https://twitter.com/_/status/1386361225299185672 https://twitter.com/_/status/1382193336153473029 This is, of course, hardly the first time that USCG vessels, as well as other American warships, have been involved in a maritime altercation with Iranian forces. Almost a year ago, on April 15, 2020, the USCGC *Wrangel*, together with another *Island* class patrol cutter, USCGC *Maui*, was involved in another incident in the same waters. On that occasion, the cutters, together with the expeditionary sea base [USS *Lewis B. Puller*](), the [*Arleigh Burke* class]() destroyer USS *Paul Hamilton*, and the [*Cyclone* class]() patrol craft USS *Firebolt* and USS *Sirocco* were harassed by around 11 Iranian [speedboat-type craft](). You can read more about that incident [here](). The incident this April followed a very similar pattern to last year’s encounter. On both occasions, IRGCN vessels repeatedly crossed the bows of the U.S. vessels at extremely close range and high speeds. However, last year’s incident saw the Iranian boats coming as close as 10 yards of at least one of the U.S. vessels, according to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. Despite the use of radio communications, blasts from the ships’ horns, and [long-range acoustic noise maker]() devices, there was no response from the IRGCN on that occasion. ***An earlier video showing the April 15, 2020 incident in the Persian Gulf:*** https://youtube.com/embed/wKdMXIZanNE For the U.S. Navy, these kinds of actions on the part of Iran present a significant risk of a potentially catastrophic collision. Although the *Island* class ships are relatively small, at 110 feet long and with a displacement of up to 165 tons, it still takes some time to bring them to a stop. Perhaps more worrying is the risk of mistaking these high-speed interactions by armed boats as a genuine attack. It is not known if there were U.S. Navy warships on the scene to provide additional protection to the USCGC *Wrangell* and USCGC *Monomoy*, but these boats do have their own, limited, defensive armament in the form of a [Mk 38 25mm chain gun]() and a pair of 50-caliber machine guns. U.S. vessels are also increasingly working in cooperation with air support assets, including U.S. Air Force [AC-130W Stinger II]() gunships and [U.S. Army AH-64E]() Apache attack helicopters, both of which can defend against swarming attacks by Iranian boats. Air Force A-10 attack aircraft [have also regularly trained]() for similar maritime missions in the past. ![message-editor%2F1619537857259-ac-130wkillertomato.jpeg]() *A sequence of captures from the feed from an infrared camera as the AC-130W Stinger II engages a “killer tomato” with its guns during an exercise in the Persian Gulf., *U.S. NAVY** Aside from the aforementioned April 2020 encounter, and the latest altercation, Iran has long sparred with U.S. military vessels in the Persian Gulf, to the point where such provocations became almost routine. Back in 2017, [*The War Zone* reported]() about how harassment of American warships by the IRGCN in the Gulf was an extension of the more hardline [domestic and foreign policy]() objectives pursued by the country’s Supreme Leader and other unelected clerics rather than its elected government. Above all, this sought to provide a bulwark against U.S. influence and military presence in the Middle East. A year before that, in January 2016, IRGCN forces [captured 10 American sailors]() and two [Riverine Command Boats]() that had drifted into Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island, resulting in an international incident. One of the craft had suffered an engine breakdown and lost track of its position. However, these kinds of maritime altercations had largely come to an end by the middle of President Donald Trump's term in office [amid new hardline U.S. policies]() toward Iran. Of course, there were still other provocations. In 2019, the United States and Iran [came worryingly close to blows]() after Iran [shot down]() a U.S. Navy RQ-4A Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator (BAMS-D) over the Gulf of Oman. This was followed by U.S. Marines aboard the *Wasp* class amphibious assault ship USS *Boxe*r bringing [down an Iranian drone]() in the [Strait of Hormuz](). Iran also continued its practice of conducting hostile boardings of other vessels underway in the Persian Gulf, in the highly strategic [Strait of Hormuz](), and elsewhere. The IRGC typically employs swarms of small boats, as well as helicopters, to conduct these operations. In one high-profile incident, the IRGC [seized control]() of the British-flagged oil tanker *Stena Impero* in July 2019, in response to the United Kingdom detaining an Iranian supertanker off the coast of Gibraltar. There have been [other examples](), too, while the U.S. government has also blamed Iran for [a spate of attacks]() directed against commercial oil tankers. ![message-editor%2F1619538299198-stena-impero.jpeg]() *The British-flagged tanker *Stena Impero* was captured by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz in July 2019., *STENA AB** Both [the United States]() and [the European Union]() have since established new maritime security constructs to help ensure the safe passage of commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, specifically. Meanwhile, and more generally, tensions between the United States and Iran ratcheted up again in January last year, including the U.S. government’s assassination of [Iranian General Qasem Soleimani]() in Baghdad and the [Iranian ballistic missile strikes]() aimed at U.S. forces. After President Biden took office earlier this year, a [rocket attack on Erbil Airport]() in northern Iraq in February week killed a contractor working for the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria and injured a U.S. military service person, among other casualties. In retaliation, [the U.S. military launched strikes]() against Iranian-backed militias in Syria. That event confirmed that Biden would continue the campaign against Iranian-supported groups. The latest incident involving the two USCG cutters and the *Shahid Nazeri* came at almost the same time that the U.S. and Iran announced they would begin negotiations toward the U.S. government rejoining a controversial 2015 multinational accord on Iran's nuclear activities, from which Trump [withdrew the United States]() in 2018. Biden has said in the past that Iran [will get no sanctions relief]() until it returns to full compliance with this agreement, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and which aims to put checks and limits on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, but there have been reports that the U.S. government may be [increasingly flexible on that issue](). Despite that breakthrough, tensions between Tehran and Washington apparently seem set to continue. The incident in the Persian Gulf earlier this month is unlikely to be the last of its kind in this long-running standoff. What is less certain is whether this signals a return to such altercations between U.S. and Iranian military vessels becoming commonplace. *Contact the author: thomas@thedrive.com* ## Author Thomas Newdick is a staff writer at *TWZ*, where he covers military aviation, defense technology, weapons systems, and international security. Based in Berlin, Germany, he reports on conflicts, military modernization efforts, and emerging aerospace technologies around the world, with a particular interest in airpower and its role in contemporary warfare. His reporting is informed by deep expertise in modern and historical airpower, particularly in Europe, with a focus on military aviation, air campaigns, and aerospace developments across the continent and beyond. Over a journalism career spanning more than 25 years, Thomas has become known for making complex defense and aerospace topics accessible to a broad audience. His reporting combines technical expertise, historical context, and a focus on the real-world operational and strategic implications of military developments. ### Author social links [Twitter]()