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Iran boats 'threatened US ships'


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Bolt_Gundam510

Five Iranian speedboats harassed three US navy ships at the weekend, approaching them and radioing a threat to blow them up, US officials say.

The incident happened in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route. The US said their ships were about to open fire when the Iranian boats withdrew.

The White House has warned Iran against "provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident".

Iran played down the event, describing it as an "ordinary occurrence".

"The issue is resolved after both sides recognise each other," Iranian state media quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying.

'Serious provocation'

The speedboats, believed to belong to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, came within about 200m of the US vessels, Pentagon officials said.

"I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes," the Iranians said in a radio transmission, according to US officials.

The Iranian boats were operating at "distances and speeds that showed reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

He said at least some of the boats were visibly armed.

US sailors assumed battle stations and the captain on one of the ships was about to order an attack when the Iranian boats turned away, dropping unidentified objects in the path of the vessel, US officials said.

The confrontation, which occurred at about 0400 local time on Sunday or late on Saturday in Washington, lasted about 20 minutes, according to the US.

The Pentagon has insisted that the three US vessels - identified as navy cruiser USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham - were in international waters.

The incident follows a row that erupted last March when Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured 15 British sailors and held them for nearly two weeks.

Iran said the crew had strayed into Iranian waters, a claim which Britain disputed.

The Revolutionary Guards, set up in 1979 to defend the country's Islamic system, has been designated by the US as a "proliferator of weapons of mass destruction".

Ready to respond

The latest confrontation comes as US President George Bush is to begin a tour of the Middle East on Wednesday.

Long-standing US-Iranian tensions remain over Iran's nuclear programme, although these have been somewhat reduced since the US intelligence community released a report in late 2007 that said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.

The BBC's Paul Reynolds says the key question is whether this is a one-off incident or whether it heralds a more aggressive stance by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

The latter policy would be unexpected, given the lowering of tension over the nuclear issue, he says, but as the incident of the captured British naval personnel showed, tensions are always high.

There is no doubt that the US is ready to respond, our correspondent adds.

Source: BBC News

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go navy....yeah, bring it on!

sounds like the gulf of Tonkin incident all over again.... see link for details if you don't know your REAL history :)

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2261

Our gov't will do what it wants, when it wants and where it wants... And it will tell us what we want to hear... Or it will tell us a lie repeatedly until we believe it.

But hey, I can choose my lot in life, and I still choose this...

Then again, the Gulf of Tonkin incident and this Iran thing sound a lot like Uncle Ned from Southpark right before he blasts a rabbit with an assault rifle.

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Infinite_Vision

This sounds like the incident with the British salors but they did not deal mess with the three navy ships because G.W would definitely do something about it. :) They did but got pretty scared after the machine guns were pointed at them. Let just hope things don't get out of hand because the whole is in chaos already.

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What in the world US ships are doing so far away from home? Do Iran or other middle-eastern countries have planes and ships and so on in the Pacific and Atlantic? Stop meddling in others affairs and things will calm down. Americans are 2 proud and blinded by it. History runs in circles. You maybe being the most powerful now, but so were muslims 1000 yrs ago and they ran the show. Some ppl never-ever learn anything. Only ambition.

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What in the world US ships are doing so far away from home? Do Iran or other middle-eastern countries have planes and ships and so on in the Pacific and Atlantic? Stop meddling in others affairs and things will calm down. Americans are 2 proud and blinded by it. History runs in circles. You maybe being the most powerful now, but so were muslims 1000 yrs ago and they ran the show. Some ppl never-ever learn anything. Only ambition.

the u.s navy has been in the persian gulf since the early 60s.when we trained the iranian navy.they are there protecting our interests and way of life.the british are also there as well as many other countries.the flow of oil thru this area is why they are there.to protectthe ships from fanatics and pirates.in case you dont know it ,the world is at war.muslims never had much of a navy a thousand years ago and dont have much of one now,cant keep your head in the sand.they want to kill all that is not muslim. i dont mean all of them,thank god,just the jihad's.i doubt you would feel this way if terrorists supported by iran murdered over 2000 innocent romainian civilians.

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dock, dock, dock. the iranian-persian navy was there since the 1st achmenid empire. you trained them only in your interess. that oil flow WILL stop. please, if you have the patience, read how the iranian oil came to be exploited by foreign companies. some maybe calling that actions theft. it's all about money&power. muslims had a superb fleet and ruled the Mediteranean. As a matter of fact, I think that this events are meant to be and no one will stop them until they reach a certain stage, and in the big picture, no one is 100% right. I know I can't convince any of you american patriots of stuff like this, but history is written and if you have the time, read. it is also circle-shaped... US are new and their dominance newer. time will pass, and nothing last forever. as a matter of fact, what grows very big becomes rotten from the inside.

But I'm stopping with this post, whatever my beliefs are. please feel free to chalenge anything I wrote.

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Political topics are the ones with most of responses and discutions... LOL !

:)

That's probably because politics are(for the greatest part) about the things that matter... And it's interesting, it's like the opposite of church :P and school :sleep: . :towel:

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dock, dock, dock. the iranian-persian navy was there since the 1st achmenid empire. you trained them only in your interess. that oil flow WILL stop. please, if you have the patience, read how the iranian oil came to be exploited by foreign companies. some maybe calling that actions theft. it's all about money&power. muslims had a superb fleet and ruled the Mediteranean. As a matter of fact, I think that this events are meant to be and no one will stop them until they reach a certain stage, and in the big picture, no one is 100% right. I know I can't convince any of you american patriots of stuff like this, but history is written and if you have the time, read. it is also circle-shaped... US are new and their dominance newer. time will pass, and nothing last forever. as a matter of fact, what grows very big becomes rotten from the inside.

But I'm stopping with this post, whatever my beliefs are. please feel free to chalenge anything I wrote.

t,you are entitled to your beliefs. i do not think less of you for them.it says in the Koran"Allah gave all the lands to the faithful but he gave the seas to the infidels..

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What in the world US ships are doing so far away from home? Do Iran or other middle-eastern countries have planes and ships and so on in the Pacific and Atlantic? Stop meddling in others affairs and things will calm down. Americans are 2 proud and blinded by it. History runs in circles. You maybe being the most powerful now, but so were muslims 1000 yrs ago and they ran the show. Some ppl never-ever learn anything. Only ambition.

the u.s navy has been in the persian gulf since the early 60s.when we trained the iranian navy.they are there protecting our interests and way of life.the british are also there as well as many other countries.the flow of oil thru this area is why they are there.to protectthe ships from fanatics and pirates.in case you dont know it ,the world is at war.muslims never had much of a navy a thousand years ago and dont have much of one now,cant keep your head in the sand.they want to kill all that is not muslim. i dont mean all of them,thank god,just the jihad's.i doubt you would feel this way if terrorists supported by iran murdered over 2000 innocent romainian civilians.

yes and any bonehead stupid enough to charge a boat (while making radio threats to them) at an ARMED flotilla of ships that has the fire power of the US Navy deserves to get their stupid asses blown out of the water.... :P

edit...what i was getting at with my gulf of tonkin link was that there will never be ANY war(s) until some country really wants one. ...and... when they can not find legitimate reasons for a war ALL countries tend to manufacture reasons...this has been going on through out history from when it was only tribes fighting tribes and then city vs city and so on

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Infinite_Vision

Toyo, this stemmed back during the Iranian crisis. The relationship between the U.S and Iran hasn't been the same since then. I really do see a world government soon not one world dominant power. Look at the EU, they are growing stronger by adding new members.

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