Cosgriff told a Pentagon briefing the USS Port Royal, the USS Hopper and the USS Ingraham were confronted early Sunday by, and received threatening radio calls from, five small high-speed crafts belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard navy.

"The behavior of the Iranian ships was, in my estimation, unnecessary, without due regard for safety of navigation and unduly provocative in the sense of the aggregate of their maneuvers, the radio call and the dropping of objects in the water," Cosgriff said.

"The Revolutionary Guard demonstrated their capacity to act irresponsibly and, in my estimation, well out of the ordinary norms of what we would expect."

The incident occurred about 15 miles off the Iranian shore and lasted about 30 minutes. Cosgriff said the Iranian boats came within 500 yards of the U.S. vessels on several occasions. (c) UPI