A rare moment where Saudi and Iranian vessels were in a direct standoff in what described as Saudi territorial waters has been revealed Saturday by Saudi state news agency SPA.
Saudi Arabia says its coast guard forced no less than three Iranian vessels out of its territorial waters after firing warning shots.
While it's unclear whether the Iranian boats had military personnel or perhaps civilian fishermen, the Saudi maritime border patrol issued repeated warnings, and then fired shots signaling it was ready to engage, SPA described.
As the Iranian vessels pushed forward, the warning shots were then fired according to a Saudi border guards spokesman.
Typically hostile incidents don't occur directly between Saudi and Iranian forces, but instead there's been heightening clashes involving proxy forces, whether in Yemen, Iraq, or Syria - where proxy wars involving Sunni and Shia rival forces vying for control have raged for years.
Lately the US itself has warned Iranian fast boats to stay clear of American vessels or risk being fired upon, given over past months a number of "harassment" incidents by IRGC vessels circling larger US warships have been recorded.
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