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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Pentagon has video, audio of Strait of Hormuz incident |
| 2008-01-09 |
| The Pentagon has video and audio tape of an incident in the Strait of Hormuz Sunday in which armed Iranian speedboats swarmed three US warships and radioed a threat to blow them up, officials said Tuesday. "There was video of the incident and it is in the process of being reviewed, There is some audio on the videotape also," said Colonel Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman. Keck said he did not know whether the video would be released. A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he understood that the audio portion of the tape includes the threat radioed by one of the Iranian vessels to blow up the US ships. Unless it was misunderstood Arabic, that's what it sounded like to me! He said the video consists mainly of long shots of Iranian vessels in the water, but also captures the sounds of ship horns and communications in the bridge of the US ships. "Get the flyswatter!" "The pellet gun would be more fun!" "OK, but only after they've had to run back and forth through our wake a few times and give their kidneys something to cry about." The Pentagon charged Monday that five armed Iranian speedboats approached the USS Port Royal, the USS Hopper and the USS Ingraham at high speeds in international waters as they transited the Strait of Hormuz Sunday morning at 0400 GMT. Where were the USS Prager, USS Medved, and USS Hewitt? :-) A US defense official, who asked not to be identified, quoted the Iranian radio transmission as saying: "I'm coming at you and you will blow up in a couple of minutes." Who are we going to blow up in a couple of minutes? Pentagon officials said the Iranians also dropped white floating boxes into the path of the Ingraham, a guided missile frigate which passed by them without incident. Just happened to have them, eh? Do they have something to do with your "identification" process? The US warships issued warnings and engaged in evasive maneuvers but no shots were fired during the encounter, which lasted less than 30 minutes, according to US defense officials. Ended when one of those guys in the speedboats came down on a nut. Iranian officials played down the incident. Rules of Taquiyya #1: Downplay the incident. "What happened between the Guards and foreign vessels was an ordinary identification," Ali Reza Tangsiri, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' naval forces in the region, told the Mehr news agency. Rules of Taquiyya #2: Blame it on whatever kind of misunderstanding you feel most likely to weasel you out from under the consequences of your actions. Nonetheless, please explain the "I'm coming at you and you will blow up in a couple of minutes" part. He added that the Guards' naval forces had a right to monitor and identify "any vessel entering Persian Gulf waters" to the northwest. And in a few more seconds there would have been a reciprocal "cultural misunderstanding" regarding the West's views of legitimate self defense had those speedboats not recognized that those were US government warships and not fishing boats. Iranian state television quoted an unnamed Guards source in the region as saying that "no threatening message was transmitted" in Sunday's incident. Well, look at the bright side, at least they know how they are supposed to behave. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #17 The Iranians learned valuable intelligence from that "little incursion", namely...1)delay times while upper ranks are brought into the loop, 2)distance to targeting parameters for the laser spotting and radar blanking, 3)that the ships 'can' be diverted by phony sea mines [possible into a laid 'real field'; and 4)freedom circumnavigated close quartered presence had chemical or biological agents been dispersed during favorable wind conditions!! And all of this not withstanding a deadpan silent ramrun into a ship at night during a storm! Send a low level coded message to Iranian Revolutionary Guards that there will be a 'dance' at the next occasion. |
| Posted by: smn 2008-01-09 19:30 |
| #16 Wakeupdorks, if such is your name: Does the President commenting on the subject satisfy your ludicrous question? |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-01-09 19:11 |
| #15 Looks like nothing happened at all. Joy rides in speed boats! Talk about making something out of nothing. Didn't realize the U.S. Navy was so easily spooked. Course, it could just be baloney right? Anyone have an official U.S. protest of the incident to share? Ok then. Nothing happened. |
| Posted by: wakeupdorks 2008-01-09 18:50 |
| #14 IRAN must be nervously twiddling/twitching their thumbs as they know Dubya = USA still has six months to a year to do take [unilateral]military action agz it. ADD TO THESE FEARS OR UNCERTAINTIES OF DUBYA'S INTENTS THE "ALTERNATIVE FUTURES FOR RUSSIA 2017" REPORT, i.e. the report's scenario where PUTIN is poten assassinated in JANUARY 2008 resulting in Russ national instability. LEST WE FERGIT, RADICAL MULLAHS, etc > BI-NATIONAL + EVEN GLOBAL MUTUAL DESTRUCTION IS TO ISLAM'S = ISLAMISM'S ADVANTAGE, BESIDES ALSO THE "OIL/RESOURCES CATACLYSM". IOW, COROLLARY > WAR IS TO ISLAM'S = ISLAMISM'S ADVANTAGE + BENEFIT, AND IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER WHETHER IRAN = RADIC ISLAMISM STARTS IT, OR THE USA DOES. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-01-09 17:39 |
| #13 They have threatened to retaliate on American interests (& not necessarily the US Navy in the immediate vicinity) if "attacked", previously hinting they have radioactive, if not nuclear, capabilities and proxies willing to deliver. The deliberate provocation would be followed by self-justification for starting WW3. Kudos to the Navy. |
| Posted by: Danielle 2008-01-09 16:34 |
| #12 Wouldn't it be interesting if those RG fastboats mysteriously exploded some dark and stormy night while safely tied up in port? And just by coincidence, right after the explosion a sound vaguely similiar to that of a jet aircraft flying low and fast was heard????? |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-01-09 16:30 |
| #11 And by let loose, I don't mean by boats with Iranian markings. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-01-09 15:58 |
| #10 Testing response maybe. Part of it. Part of it is their primitive need to count coo. But more importantly, I think it is placing the US frog in warm water. We get complacent having Iranian warcraft swarming within firing distance and one day they let loose. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-01-09 15:53 |
| #9 I think the US is waiting for a very overt and undenyable act of war before they crush Iran like the treacherous bugs they are. They want to ensure there can NOT be a "misunderstanding", but without allowing Iran any type of propaganda victory, such as sinking a US warship. If I were an ordinary Iranian citizen, I think I'd move out of Bandar Abbas - say up around the northeast corner of the country, near Afghanistan, in a very isolated spot. Just a guess, but I'd bet that if anything REALLY happened, Bandar Abbas would be unlivable for anywhere from a few months to a thousand years or so. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-01-09 14:33 |
| #8 rough accented English, TW |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-01-09 14:23 |
| #7 Pardon, that should be Revolutionary Guard, of course. |
| Posted by: Dopey Flotle8127 2008-01-09 14:07 |
| #6 What TW says. Info from MNF, iiuc, is that Iran has lowered their troublemaking their, even as we have kept going after their folks. I dont believe thats them suddenly becoming "moderate" - I think thats them running scared. I think we keep them in that position, and not blow it with an incident at sea. "Dont fire unles fired upon, BUT if they mean to have a war, let it begin here" and all that. Why they did this I dont know. Testing response maybe. Or some local Repug Guard thugs acting out of indiscipline, or even trying to manipulate politics in Teheran, maybe. |
| Posted by: Dopey Flotle8127 2008-01-09 14:06 |
| #5 Bull. This is the Cole all over again. The iran scum should have been sunk period. Double spit |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2008-01-09 12:46 |
| #4 I assume it was Farsi they spoke. I'm glad our Navy has the iron discipline to go to open war on our timing, not Iran's. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-01-09 12:37 |
| #3 welll there are thousands out there and it is common for a verbal response like this....but what are the ROE's....seemed danger close and if the transmission is correct the captian should be removed..we look weak...we have stated many times what our intention would be if boats came that close (ala cole)....these iranrags should of been toasted |
| Posted by: dan 2008-01-09 10:38 |
| #2 ...I dunno. Something about the way the USN responded - and the relatively calm way that POTUS responded as well - suggests to me that we may have had a clue something was coming. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2008-01-09 10:11 |
| #1 How I wish they stayed longer to get a 50 cal demonstration. |
| Posted by: Grampaw Pheager6115 2008-01-09 09:48 |