“U.S. naval forces have begun accompanying U.S.-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday. The announcement comes two days after Iranian forces seized a cargo ship sailing under the flag of the Marshall Islands and forced it to anchor off the Iranian coast,” Defense One reports.  

“On April 28, patrol boats belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, or IRGCN , fired a shot across the bow of the container ship Maersk Tigris, directed it toward an Iranian port, and have prevented it from leaving. Iranian officials say they are acting legally to resolve a 10-year-old dispute with the Maersk shipping company over 10 shipping containers. Maersk officials have said they are working to resolve the situation and free their ship and crew.”  

“The current episode is part of a long history of confrontations between U.S. and Iranian naval forces. In 1987-88, the Gulf was the scene of Operation Earnest Will, the most intensive escort operation since World War II . The operation involved dozens of U.S. warships shepherding convoys of reflagged Kuwaiti tankers through the strait during the Iraq-Iraq War.”