Iran is seeking to regain some sense of pride in the wake of its drubbing at the hands of Israel and the US during the 12-day war that ended a month ago, on June 24. As such, Iran has decided to have its state media celebrate claims that one of its military helicopters warned a US destroyer to stay away from Iranian waters in the Gulf of Oman.

US Naval Institute USNI news site noted that “US Central Command is denying an American guided-missile destroyer violated Iranian waters, disputing claims in Iranian state media.”

Tasnim News in Iran said that on July 23 at around 10 a.m., the USS Fitzgerald “intended to approach the waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” The Iranian navy’s Third Nabataean Region Aviation Readiness Team (Nadaja) flew over this extra-regional vessel as quickly as possible by helicopter and issued a warning for it to move.

In response, the American destroyer threatened to target the Iranian helicopter and demanded that it leave the area. However, the Iranian pilot resolutely continued his mission and once again repeated the warning to stay away from Iranian waters. An Iranian SH-3 Sea King helicopter was used in the incident to communicate with the US vessel.

For Iran, this was a small victory. It wanted to prove that it continues to control its territorial waters, and that it is monitoring US naval movements. Iran doesn’t want to provoke a new conflict, but it wants to show it is still a country capable of projecting force.

The Iranian media presents this as a case of a helicopter warning the US vessel to change course. Clearly, a small helicopter would not be a match for a modern US destroyer.
“With the insistence of the flight team and the defense support of the Iranian army, the American destroyer finally agreed and moved away from the waters.” The Iranian media made it seem like the Americans had given up in this encounter.

Al-Ain media in the United Arab Emirates described the incident as a possible new crisis:“A new chapter in the crisis between Iran and the United States, following the US strikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities last month,” the report said. It noted that the US Pentagon had responded that the naval ship had been “safe and professional” and that the vessel’s mission progress was not impeded.

The Arabic-language Al-Ain report also noted that the Iranians depicted the interaction as though the US ship was made to “surrender” and “turn back.” Clearly, that is Iran’s narrative. “Clashes have previously occurred between the two countries’ forces in the waters off southern Iran, particularly in the Gulf of Oman,” the report added.

“In 2023, Tehran announced that it had forced a US submarine to surface while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a claim Washington denied,” it said. Iran also downed a $200 million Global Hawk drone in 2019. This came at a time when Iran had mined four ships off the coast of the UAE in the Gulf of Oman and also attacked two other ships underway in the same area.