Uh Oh... US and IRAN Skirmish on Strait of Hormuz

Leopolds Ghost

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Tue Jan-08-08 03:50 PM
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Uh Oh... US and IRAN Skirmish on Strait of Hormuz

Gulf of Tonkin anyone? The NY Times is reporting that the U.S. military and Iranian military have engaged off of the Strait of Hormuz. The NY Times notes that this report and a CNN report are from anonymous sources. Israel is also reporting a rocket used in attack last week as coming from Iran. All this occurring as President Bush makes an unusual visit to the Middle East.

--Kevin Zeese, Voters For Peace

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/us-military-reports-skirmish-with-iran/?hp

U.S. Military Reports Skirmish With Iran

By Mike Nizza

Tags: foreign affairs, iran, media, military, united states

Iran and the United States have been playing chicken for some time now, but reports this morning say that the game turned unusually direct on Sunday. From NBC News:

Iranian Revolutionary Guard gunboats harassed three U.S. Navy warships in the Strait of Hormuz Sunday, in what the U.S. military considers a “significant provocative act.”

Military officials told NBC News that two U.S. Navy destroyers and one frigate were heading into the Persian Gulf through the international waters of the Strait of Hormuz when five armed “fast boats” of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard approached a high speed, darting in and out of the formation.

Later, the White House amplified the concern and issued a warning as well. “We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future,” said spokesman Gordon Johndroe, according to Reuters.

The officials told NBC that the incident ended without any shots being fired when the Iranian boats left the area. Iran was “testing our defenses,” they concluded. Here’s more details from an official speaking to The Associated Press:

‘’There were no injuries but there very well could have been,'’ he said, adding that the Iranian boats turned away ‘’literally at the very moment that U.S. forces were preparing to open fire'’ in self defense.

He said he didn’t have the precise transcript of communications that passed between the two forces, but the Iranians radioed something to the effect that ‘’we’re coming at you and you’ll explode in a couple minutes.'’

An official statement from the Navy was expected soon, Bloomberg News said.

While The New York Times’s reporters seek to confirm the news with their own sources — the ones in this and CNN’s version are anonymous — the report emerged at a significant time.

President Bush is arriving in the region on Tuesday, and The Washington Post reported today that he plans to rally support against Iran “even as a recent U.S. intelligence report playing down Tehran’s nuclear ambitions has left Israeli and Arab leaders rethinking their own approach toward Iran and questioning Washington’s resolve.”

And the U.S. wasn’t the only country to complain of Iran’s aggression in the region today. Israeli intelligence officials claim that it has traced a rocket used in an attack last week to Iran, Isabel Kershner reported in The New York Times. “It was the first such rocket to land in Israel,” she wrote. “And Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would intensify its response to the firing of such longer-range rockets.”

Also, the location of the skirmish roiled oil markets: Along with the Strait of Malacca between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Strait of Hormuz is considered one of the top two most strategic chokepoints for delivering oil around the world.

Update, 11:33 a.m. Doubts over the creditibility of the threat flowed almost as quickly as the news itself. Blake Hounshell of Foreign Policy Magazine says that “it’s a safe bet that hardliners in the Guard are seeking to create an incident on the eve of U.S. President George W. Bush’s visit to the region.” ***

Expect more updates on this potentially significant story later in the day.