- 07 Jan 2008 21:40
#1419724
And how many posters have claimed that the Iranians aren't stupid again?
The last time they tried to tangle with the USN they got the living shit kicked out of them, aside from their entire navy being sunk.
I'd shutter to think at what kinds of whoop ass the USN would be eager to open up on them now if things escalated after an incident like this.
Source
Source
The last time they tried to tangle with the USN they got the living shit kicked out of them, aside from their entire navy being sunk.
I'd shutter to think at what kinds of whoop ass the USN would be eager to open up on them now if things escalated after an incident like this.
Source
From Barbara Starr
(CNN) -- Five Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats "harassed and provoked" three U.S. Navy ships early Sunday in international waters, the U.S. military said Monday, calling the encounter a "significant" confrontation.
The USS Hopper, seen in a file photo, was one of the ships harassed by Iranian boats, officials say.
An Iranian official, however, said it was not a serious incident, the state-run news agency IRNA reported.
U.S. military officials said the incident occurred early Sunday morning in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping channel leading in and out of the Persian Gulf.
They said that as the guided missile destroyer USS Hopper, the guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal and the guided-missile frigate USS Ingraham were entering the Persian Gulf, five Iranian boats approached them at high speed and swarmed them.
The Iranian boats made "threatening" moves toward the U.S. ships and in one case came within 200 yards of one of them, the U.S. officials said.
The U.S. Navy also received a radio transmission that officials believe came from the Iranian boats. The transmission said, "I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes," the U.S. military officials told CNN.
When the U.S. ships heard that radio transmission, they took up their gun positions and officers were "in the process" of giving the order to fire when the Iranians abruptly turned away, the U.S. officials said.
After the radio transmission, one of the Iranian boats dropped white boxes into the water in front of the U.S. ships, the officials said. It was not clear what was in the boxes, the officials said.
No shots were fired, and no one was injured.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesman downplayed the incident, calling it "ordinary," IRNA reported. Mohammad Ali Hosseini said that similar incidents had occurred in the past between Iranian and American ships, and the issues were resolved as soon as the ships recognized each other, IRNA reported.
The Strait of Hormuz, which is in international waters, is near much of the world's oil supplies.
The White House urged Iran to refrain from "such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States probably would not make a formal protest to Iran about the incident.
McCormack said, "I can't speak to their rationale, their reasoning, their motivations."
Iran and the United States do not have diplomatic relations. Switzerland represents U.S. interests in Tehran, while Pakistan represents Iranian interests in Washington.
McCormack declined to comment further on the incident but said, "The U.S. will confront Iranian behavior where it seeks to do harm either to us or to our friends and allies in the region."
On Friday, the U.S. Navy announced the same team of naval ships had been searching in the Arabian Sea for a sailor missing for a day from the USS Hopper. The outcome of the search was not immediately known Monday.
In November, the U.S. military reported that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps had taken command of Tehran's naval operations in the Persian Gulf.
The United States considers the Revolutionary Guard to be a major supporter of terrorist activity.
Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have increased over the last few years. The U.S. has concerns about Iran's nuclear program and has accused Iran of supplying weapons to insurgents in Iraq who target American forces.
In March, Iran detained 15 crew members of a British ship before releasing them after nearly two weeks. Iran alleged the British vessel strayed into Iranian waters -- an assertion Britain strongly
Source
Pentagon Says Ships Harassed by Iran
By PAULINE JELINEK,
WASHINGTON (Jan. 7) - In what is being called a serious provocation, Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, officials said Monday.
U.S. forces were on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats in the early Sunday incident, when the boats ended the incident and turned and moved away, said a Pentagon official.
"It is the most serious provocation of this sort that we've seen yet," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
The incident occurred at about 5 a.m. local time Sunday as a U.S. Navy cruiser, destroyer and frigate were transiting the strait on their way into the Persian Gulf.
"Five small boats were acting in a very aggressive way, charging the ships, dropping boxes in the water in front of the ships and causing our ships to take evasive maneuvers," the Pentagon official said.
"There were no injuries but there very well could have been," he said, adding that the Iranian boats turned away "literally at the very moment that U.S. forced were preparing to open fire" in self defense.
He said he didn't have the precise transcript of communications that passed between the two forces, but the Iranians radioed something to the effect that "we're coming at you and you'll explode in a couple minutes."
Historical tensions between the two nations have increased in recent years over Washington's charge that Tehran has been developing nuclear weapons and supplying and training Iraqi insurgents using roadside bombs - the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq.
In another incident off it's coast, Iranian Revolutionary Guard sailors last March captured 15 British sailors and held them for nearly two weeks.
The 15 sailors from HMS Cornwall, including one woman, were captured on March 23. Iran claims the crew, operating in a small patrol craft, had intruded into Iranian waters - a claim denied by Britain.
"For you, the day when I destroyed your village, killed your family and forced you into exile was the defining moment of your life, but for me...it was Tuesday."