It's time for the United States to hold Iran accountable.

Original article - Lukas Mikelionis and Lucas Tomlinson | Fox News

Iranian forces are actively using GPS jammers and pretending to be U.S. or allies’ warships to trick commercial vessels into traveling through Iranian waters and then seizing them, federal government officials say.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration released a warning Wednesday, claiming Iran is using “GPS interference, bridge-to-bridge communications spoofing, and/or other communications jamming with little to no warning.”

“In at least two of these incidents, vessels reported GPS interference,” the statement read. “Vessels have also reported spoofed bridge-to-bridge communications from unknown entities falsely claiming to be U.S. or coalition warships.”

The officials advise U.S.-flagged vessels to “decline permission” by any Iranian forces attempting to board the ship and “immediately inform the U.S. [Navy’s] Fifth Fleet Battle Watch,” headquartered in Bahrain.

The statement comes following a series of vessel seizures by the Iranian forces since May. The British government, whose vessel was recently seized, said this week that it would join the United States in a maritime coalition to protect merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman.

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