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Edited on Mon Jan-07-08 03:07 PM by autorank
"Gulf of Tonkin" avoided, for now. But Congress, whatever you do don't impeach this guy. 'Wouldn't be prudent'.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 1 minute ago
Iran's Foreign Ministry said Monday that a confrontation between Iranian boats and U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf over the weekend was "something normal" and was resolved. It suggested the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels.
The Pentagon said that in the incident early Sunday, five small Iranian boats repeatedly "charged" U.S. warships in the Gulf's Hormuz Strait and dropped boxes in the water. The boats warned the U.S. ships that they would set up "explosions," a U.S. Defense Department official said.
The U.S. craft were on the verge of opening fire when the Iranian boats fled, the official said, calling the incidident "the most serious provocation of its sort" in the Gulf. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
SNIP (Iranians say incident was one of mistaken identity)
"That is something normal that takes place every now and then for each party, and it (the problem) is settled after identification of the two parties," he told the state news agency IRNA.
The incident was "similar to past ones" that were resolved "once the two sides recognized each other."
U.S. Navy and Iranian officials have said in the past that vessels from the two rival nations frequently come into contact in the waters of the narrow, heavily trafficked Gulf. They often communicate by radio to avoid incidents. But the latest incident was the first time U.S. officials have spoken of such a direct threat from Iranian boats.
SNIP (Took place 5 a.m. local time Sunday)
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