There will be terrible consequences for Iranian boats harassing US ships after Jan. 20

Washington Examiner:
If Iranian boats harassed a U.S. destroyer in the Strait of Hormuz on Jan. 28 like they did on Jan. 8, one expert says it's unlikely the president-elect would take it lying down.

On Sunday, the destroyer USS Mahan was forced to fire warning shots at Iranian fast boats speeding toward it with their weapons manned after audio warnings failed to stop them. The Pentagon deemed the move "unsafe and unprofessional," and the boats broke off after the shots were fired.

Once President-elect Trump takes office this month, he'll be presented with a list of options on how to respond to situations like this. Bryan McGrath, the managing director of the FerryBridge Group, said what choices Trump makes will almost certainly be different from those made by President Obama.

"I don't think any administration after the Obama administration, and especially the Trump administration, are going to sit back and allow the Iranians to continue to do this. This is dangerous," said McGrath, a retired naval officer who commanded the destroyer USS Bulkeley, which is the class of ship that fired on the Iranians. "I don't think that a President Trump is going to have much of an appetite for this kind of crap and quite frankly I don't blame him."

McGrath predicted Trump would allow more "diverse reactions" to these types of provocations, including possibly loosening the rules of engagement to allow warning shots to be fired earlier in an incident or requiring fighter aircraft from a carrier in the region to escort ships, enabling them to strafe or scare attacking boats if needed.
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While the article does not mention it, attack helicopters are probably the best way to deal with the Iran swarm tactics.  They take away the small boats' advantage of maneuverability because they are even more maneuverable.  I would not be surprised to see escort choppers used in areas Iran has acted like a troll.

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