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A30 world news
Diahuebs 29 aPRiL 2021

US Navy fires warning shots in new tense encounter with Iran

becca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for
the Mideast-based 5th Fleet. "The The incident Monday marked the
crew of Firebolt then fired warning second time the Navy accused the
shots, and the (Guard) vessels moved Guard of operating in an "unsafe and
away to a safe distance from the U.S. unprofessional" manner this month
vessels." alone after tense encounters between
the forces had dropped in recent
She called on the Guard to "operate years.
with due regard for the safety of all
vessels as required by international Footage released Tuesday by the Navy
law." showed a ship commanded by the
Guard cut in front of the USCGC
"U.S. naval forces continue to remain Monomoy, causing the Coast Guard
vigilant and are trained to act in a vessel to come to an abrupt stop with
professional manner, while our com- its engine smoking on April 2.
manding officers retain the inherent
right to act in self-defense," she said. The Guard also did the same with an-
other Coast Guard vessel, the USC-
The last time a Navy vessel fired GC Wrangell, Rebarich said.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates tracer round racing across the top of warning shots in the Persian Gulf in
(AP) — An American warship the water. an incident involving Iran was in July The interaction marked the first
fired warning shots when vessels 2017, when the USS Thunderbolt, "unsafe and unprofessional" incident
of Iran's paramilitary Revolu- Iran did not immediately acknowl- a sister ship to the Firebolt, fired to involving the Iranians since April 15,
tionary Guard came too close to edge the incident. warn off a Guard vessel. Regulations 2020, Rebarich said. However, Iran
a patrol in the Persian Gulf, the issued last year give Navy command- had largely stopped such incidents
U.S. Navy said Wednesday. It was The Navy said the Cyclone-class pa- ers the authority to take "lawful de- in 2018 and nearly in the entirety of
the first such shooting in nearly trol ship USS Firebolt fired the warn- fensive measures" against vessels in 2019, she said.
four years. ing shots after three fast-attack Guard the Mideast that come within 100
vessels came within 68 yards (62 me- meters (yards) of their warships. The incident comes as Iran negotiates
The Navy released black-and-white ters) of it and the U.S. Coast Guard with world powers in Vienna over
footage of the encounter Monday patrol boat USCGC Baranoff. While 100 meters may seem far to Tehran and Washington returning to
night in international waters of the someone standing at a distance, it's the 2015 nuclear deal. It also follows a
northern reaches of the Persian Gulf "The U.S. crews issued multiple incredibly close for large warships series of incidents across the Mideast
near Kuwait, Iran, Iraq and Saudi warnings via bridge-to-bridge ra- that have difficulty in turning quick- attributed to a shadow war between
Arabia. In it, lights can be seen in dio and loud-hailer devices, but the ly, like aircraft carriers. Even smaller Iran and Israel, which includes at-
the distance and what appears to be (Guard) vessels continued their close vessels can collide with each other at tacks on regional shipping and sabo-
a single gunshot can be heard, with a range maneuvers," said Cmdr. Re- sea, risking the ships. tage at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility.

Russia rejects Ukraine's push to revise 2015 peace deal

MOSCOW (AP) — Rus- the potential for large-scale for turning a blind eye to the they are trying hard to wrig- thorities need to speak to the
sia's foreign minister hostilities. Tensions eased failure of Ukrainian authori- gle out." rebels to settle the conflict in
sternly warned Ukrainian last week after Moscow an- ties to meet their obligations Donbas. He added that if the
officials Wednesday that nounced a pullback of its under the 2015 document Zelenskyy has pushed for a Ukrainian president wants
Moscow would not ac- forces following massive that was signed in the Belaru- meeting with Putin, but the to discuss the normalization
cept their push to revise drills. sian capital, Minsk, by then- Russian leader responded of ties with Russia, he's wel-
a peace deal for eastern Ukrainian President Petro last week that Ukrainian au- come to come to Moscow.
Ukraine. The 2015 deal, which was Poroshenko.
brokered by France and Ger-
Foreign Minister Sergey Lav- many, marked a diplomatic "The West either can't or
rov's comments followed coup for Russia, obliging doesn't want to encourage
Ukrainian President Volody- Ukraine to offer broad au- compliance with the Minsk
myr Zelenskyy calling Tues- tonomy to the separatist re- agreement," he said.
day for a modification of the gions and amnesty for the
2015 agreement and inviting rebels. It also stipulated that Lavrov categorically rejected
other nations to help mediate Ukraine would regain full the push by Ukrainian offi-
the stalled talks on a political control of its border with cials to reverse the sequence
settlement of the conflict in Russia in the rebel-held ter- of steps stipulated by the
Ukraine's east. ritories only after the election Minsk deal and to make re-
of local leaders and legisla- claiming control of the bor-
Fighting between Ukrainian tures, the provisions resented der with Russia in the rebel-
forces and Russia-backed sep- by many Ukrainians as a be- controlled regions the first
aratists erupted in Ukraine's trayal of national interests. step.
eastern industrial heartland,
called Donbas, shortly after Ukraine and the West have "Control of the border is the
Moscow's 2014 annexation of accused Russia of backing the very last move that comes
Ukraine's Crimean Peninsu- separatist rebels in the east only after those territories
la. More than 14,000 people with troops and weapons, get a special status fixed in
have been killed during the claims Moscow has denied. the Ukrainian Constitution
seven-year conflict. The Kremlin has insisted that and hold free elections ac-
Russia isn't a party to what knowledged as such by the
In recent weeks, increasing it described as an internal Organization for Security
violations of a shaky cease- Ukrainian conflict. and Cooperation in Europe,"
fire in eastern Ukraine a the Russian minister said. "I
Russian troop buildup across Speaking in an interview believe that we mustn't let
the border drew Ukrainian with a Russian state TV host, Mr. Zelenskyy and his team
and Western concerns about Lavrov criticized the West get off the hook, even though