Iran, which uses gps jammer, claims to be American warships to outsmart ships, the United States said.
Iranian forces are actively using jammers and pretending to be U.S. or allied warships to get merchant ships to sail through Iranian waters and then confiscate them, government officials say.
The U.S. Department of Transportation maritime administration issued a warning Wednesday that Iran is using “GPS interference, bridge-to-bridge communication spoofing, and / or other communication disruptions with little or no warning.”
ROUHANI WARNS: “WAR WITH IRAN IS THE MOTHER OF ALL WARS”
“In at least two of these incidents, ships reported GPS interference,” the statement said. “Ships have also reported fake bridge-to-bridge communications from unknown entities that incorrectly claim to be US or coalition warships.”
Officials advise US-flagged ships to refuse permission from Iranian forces attempting to board the ship and to immediately notify “the Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet Battle Watch.”
The statement follows a series of ship seizures by the Iranian armed forces since May. The British government, whose ship was recently confiscated, announced this week that it would form a maritime coalition with the United States to protect merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman.
BRADLEY BLAKEMAN: IRAN WAS KNOWN TO DELIVER SHIPS NEAR HORMUZ – IT’S TIME FOR THIS SOLUTION
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised the UK’s centuries-long maritime expertise as he stood alongside his British counterpart Dominic Raab at a press conference on Wednesday in Washington, DC.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have brought countries to the brink of war, especially after Iran shot down an unmanned American drone and caused President Trump to first order a military strike against the regime, although the attack later in the middle of the Crisis was canceled, fear of high victims on the Iranian side.
The Iranian regime has been accused by the US of being responsible for six attacks on commercial tankers that used mines to blow holes in the fuselage.
Iran denies the attack on the tankers and insists that the crashed American drone flew into Iranian airspace. The regime also said it seized a British tanker after Royal Marines seized an Iranian tanker off Gibraltar suspected of carrying oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions