Friendly fire in the Gulf: Iranian naval ship fires on an assistance vessel, killing 19

An Iranian naval ship was reportedly hit by a missile Sunday during a military exercise in the Sea of Oman, killing 19 people. 

Details are still emerging, but 15 more people also were reportedly injured. The missile came from the Iranian Naval vessel the Jamaran and mistakenly hit and sunk a boat called the Konarak.

Iran routinely runs military exercises in the Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf to simultaneously intimidate surrounding nations and the United States with its military prowess, and to test its own equipment. Sunday’s incident was a failure on both counts.

The Konarak was hit as it was helping position a target that the Jamaran was set to fire on as part of a missile test. The Konarak was not far enough away from the target before the missile was fired. Instead of hitting the target, the missile reportedly collided with the rear of the Konarak.

In April, following a suspicious incident, President Trump tweeted that he had given the U.S. Navy the command to fire on Iranian vessels if they harassed American boats in the Persian Gulf. Iran has since positioned its air defense forces along the southern shore of the Persian Gulf.

This is the second high-profile mishap for Iran’s Military this year. In January, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard fired on a Ukrainian Airlines plane, killing 176 passengers on board. They blamed the catastrophe on human error.