Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats threatened US ships in the Strait of Hormuz this weekend.
(Iran Press News Photo)
The Times Online says the Iranians were threatening a suicide mission on the American ships.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard members confronted and harassed three US ships in the Strait of Hormuz this weekend.
Reuters reported:
In what U.S. officials called a serious provocation, Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, threatening to explode the American vessels.
U.S. forces were on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats in the early Sunday incident, when the boats turned and moved away, a Pentagon official said. “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.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said: “We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future.”
…There were no injuries but the official said there could have been, because the Iranian boats turned away “literally at the very moment that U.S. forces were preparing to open fire” in self defense.
The official said he didn’t have the precise transcript of communications that passed between the two forces, but said the Iranians radioed something like “we’re coming at you and you’ll explode in a couple minutes.”
CNN has video of US official’s reaction to the confrontation.
Michelle Malkin has more reaction on the confrontaion.
UPDATE: Iranian News reported: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said the act taken in connection with the American navy ship was “something normal.”
Iranian officials are wondering why the US has not yet explained why their warships disturbed tranquility of the very sensitive region.
