When it comes to military operations involving Iran and the U.S., it would be fair to say that discretion is the better part of valour.

Tensions are always on a knife edge, which is why U.S. officials are so unimpressed with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Four vessels from the IRGC are accused of harassing a U.S. destroyer during a ‘high speed intercept’ on Tuesday. More from Huffington Post:

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said two of the Iranian vessels came within 300 yards of the USS Nitze in an incident that was “unsafe and unprofessional.”

“The Iranian high rate of closure…created a dangerous, harassing situation that could have led to further escalation including additional defensive measures by Nitze,” the official said.

I think those ‘additional defensive measures’ are the kind that cause absolute havoc, but there is one reason things haven’t escalated further:

The USS Nitze had to alter course in order to increase its distance from the Iranian vessels, the official said. The official said the incident could have led to a diplomat protest, but the United States does not have diplomatic relations with Iran.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, I suppose.

Here’s the video of the incident, filmed from the USS Nitze.

WATCH: US official: Multiple Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed USS Nitze in Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.https://t.co/URyOplrvuO

— NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) August 24, 2016

I can almost hear Donald Trump shouting “bomb the shit outta them“.

[source:huffpost]