Just further proof that we need someone in the White House who can deal with a nuclear armed country like Iran. Watch the video, towards the end you will hear the Iranian commander tell the American warship “you will explode in a minute.”
An Iranian confrontation with U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf was a “provocative act,” President Bush said Tuesday, hours before he was to leave for the Mideast on an eight-day visit.
“It is a dangerous situation,” he said at a White House news conference. “They should not have done it, pure and simple. … I don’t know what … their thinking was. But I’m telling you what I think it was. I think it was a provocative act. And my message today, to the Iranians, is they shouldn’t have done what they did.”
~~~ New video from the U.S. Navy out after the president’s news conference shows how tense the situation became Sunday for sailors aboard three U.S. warships in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz. At least five Iranian fast boats closed in quickly. A radio transmission believed to have come from one of the Iranian boats said, “I am coming to you.”
Commanders aboard the USS Port Royal, the USS Hopper and the USS Ingraham were ramping up defensive operations when the radio back and forth happened with the Iranians.
“Inbound small craft, you are approaching a coalition warship operating in international waters. Your identity is not known and your intentions are unclear.Request you alter course immediately to remain clear,” the Navy warned.
The response from the speed boat :”You will explode in a couple of minutes.”
The Iranian fleet “maneuvered aggressively” and then vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, said Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff. No shots were fired.
In a four-minute, 20-second video released Tuesday by the Pentagon, the small boats — including a bright blue one — can be seen racing near the wake the U.S. ships and crossing close to each other.
The audio and video recordings were made separately, and initially covered much of the more than 20 minute confrontation, but were pulled together and combined by the Navy, the officials said.
In Tehran, Iran’s Foreign Ministry suggested the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. Spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini played down the incident. “That is something normal that takes place every now and then for each party,” he told the state news agency IRNA.
Cosgriff disputed Iranian claims that the incident was a routine encounter, saying Iran’s “provocative” actions were “deadly serious” to the U.S. military.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said that its high-speed boats never threatened the U.S. vessels during the encounter, insisting it only asked them to identify themselves, then let them continue into the Gulf. An IRGC commander defended his force’s right to identify ships in the sensitive waterway.
Cosgriff, the commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf and is based in nearby Bahrain, said the American vessels had already been identified by Iranian authorities earlier in the day before the confrontation occurred.
“The group had been successfully queried by an Iranian ship, possibly a Revolutionary Guards ship, and two or three Iranian (shore) stations and an Omani station,” Cosgriff told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday.
The U.S. commander also pointed out that the American ships were clearly marked and the incident took place during the day when they could be seen. “I can’t help but conclude that it was provocative,” Cosgriff said.
The Pentagon has said the U.S. ships were on the verge of opening fire on the Iranian boats when they fled.
Two of the Iranian boats went to the ship’s left side, three to the right, he said. The two on the left “were more energetic and made a number of runs toward the lead ship, the USS Hopper.”
This is what the Democrat version of the NIE has wrought. An Iranian regime more bold and daring then they have been in some time.
Also, what the hell were the commanders of our ships thinking? Letting these crafts get within 200 yards of our ships? What the hell!
I’m sure they were afraid of starting an international incident but come on, and some point you have to take action….not after its too late. This just gives them more ammunition in believing we don’t have the fortitude to go to war with them.
UPDATE
Dr. Sanity has a great take on the situation:
The key behavioral factor in extinguishing undesirable behavior is never to reinforce the behavior you are trying to extinguish. This fact is essential to understand, particularly when dealing with bullies who hail from a shame-phobic culture. The desire to preserve honor and avoid shame to the exclusion of all else is one of the primary foundations of the culture, and it has the side-effect of giving the individual carte blanche to engage in wrong-doing when they believe they have the upper hand.
In fact, any and all attempts to placate or reason with them will only result in their behavior escalating. That is because they sense weakness; and your weakness presents them with the opportunity to maximize both their own honor (such as it is) and your shame.
Bullies and thugs will not suddenly develop respect for your profound desire for peace and your non-violent, even appeasing, intentions–no matter how sincerely you express them. On the contrary, they conclude that you are weak and that there will be no consequences if they continue to push you around.
Once again, Iran has confirmed their belief that they are dealing with a paper tiger when they take on the West.
~~~ No matter how you look at it–either from a behavioral or a psychological perspective–it seems clear that things are only going to be going from bad to worse in the immediate future. And make no mistake about it, Iran will do something like this again. And the next time they will be interested in seeing how much further they can go with their antics–Can they kill an American or two without reprisal? How about kidnap some sailors right off the ship? They already know they can send explosives to Iraq and detain Americans without too much outrage or reprisals.
As Peters says at the beginning of his article, our tepid response to the Iranian attempt to humiliate our Navy has ensured that Iranian provocations will escalate.
Iranians kidnap British sailors, and nothing is done. They rush our ships while throwing objects into the water, nothing is done.
The Commander of these ships screwed up big time in my opinion.
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