Independent UK: US almost opened fire on Iranian boats, Pentagon says

[marmar]

While the media focuses on the horse race silliness, BushCo is trying to go out with a bang in the gulf. - OP's special comment.


US almost opened fire on Iranian boats, Pentagon says
By Kim Sengupta
Published: 08 January 2008


The Strait of Hormuz The US and Iran have engaged in their most serious military confrontation in recent times, with American warships on the verge of opening fire on gunboats of the Revolutionary Guards which had threatened to blow them up.

The incident, details of which were confirmed by the Pentagon yesterday, came on the eve of President George Bush's visit to the Middle East and follows claims by US commanders in the Persian Gulf that Iran was trying to destablise the region.

The three US ships and five Iranian vessels clashed in the early hours of Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz, the stretch of water where a 15-strong British naval party was taken hostage by the Revolutionary Guards last year. American officials at the time said that a similar attempt to seize their personnel would have led to immediate retaliation.

The Pentagon claimed the American ships were in international waters, although the demarcation of the border between Iran and Iraq on the Strait remains a matter of dispute. An American official said that the Revolutionary Guards boats "swarmed" to within 200 metres of the USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham and the Iranians transmitted a radio message saying: " I am coming at you; you will explode in a couple of minutes".

The captain of one of the US vessels was "literally moments away" from giving the order to open fire when the Iranian vessels moved away, American officials said. The Iranian boats were observed before the stand-off, dropping "small white containers" into the water, the Americans said, an exercise for laying mines. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3318010.ece