The Wall Street Journal:

 

Cargo vessels and container ships sitting at dockside last month during loading operations at the port in Bandar Imam Khomeini, Iran. PHOTO: ALI MOHAMMADI/BLOOMBERG NEWS

 

For two weeks in May, the U.S. military shadowed two Iranian commercial boats sailing around the Persian Gulf as policy makers in Washington and Tehran traded threats and taunts.

American surveillance kept constant watch on the two vessels after U.S. officials said they saw Iranian forces load missiles into launchers on their decks, according to U.S. officials.

As tensions climbed, the Iranian ships eventually pulled into a harbor and unloaded the missiles that had set off alarms for the U.S. military.

This protracted face-off in the Gulf, details of which haven’t been reported, was the catalyst for a cascade of steps by the Trump administration that have fueled concerns of an armed clash.

 

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