WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The United States protested formally to the Iranian government on Thursday over an incident in which Iranian speedboats confronted U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the State Department said.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said a formal diplomatic note was sent via the Swiss ambassador in Tehran who acts as an interlocutor between the the U.S. and Iranian governments which do not have diplomatic ties. (Reporting by Sue Pleming, editing by Patricia Wilson)

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