U.S. releases video of incident with Iran boats

Many Arab countries fear the Iranian-American rivalry could erupt into a military confrontation that would put them in the crossfire and hurt vital oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that its high-speed boats never threatened the U.S. vessels during the encounter, insisting it only asked them to identify themselves, then let them continue into the gulf. A Guards commander defended his force’s right to identify ships in the sensitive waterway.

Cosgriff, the commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet, which patrols the gulf and is based in nearby Bahrain, said the American vessels had been identified by Iranian authorities earlier in the day.

“The group had been successfully queried by an Iranian ship, possibly a Revolutionary Guards ship, and two or three Iranian (shore) stations and an Omani station,” Cosgriff told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday.

The U.S. commander also said that the American ships were clearly marked and the incident took place during the day when they could be seen. “I can’t help but conclude that it was provocative,” Cosgriff said.

The Pentagon has said the U.S. ships were on the verge of opening fire on the Iranian boats when they fled.

Cosgriff said the five Iranian boats were outfitted with outboard motors and carrying three to four people each.

Two of the Iranian boats went to the ship’s left side, three to the right, he said. The two on the left “were more energetic and made a number of runs toward the lead ship, the USS Hopper.” The two boats dumped boxes into the water.

U.S. military officials, including Cosgriff, cautioned, however, that they have not been able to connect definitively the radio call with one of the Revolutionary Guards boats.

“The ships were close enough to shore that the call could have come from a shore station, it could have come from another boat,” said Cdr. Lydia Robertson, the 5th Fleet spokeswoman. “But the call did happen while the small boats were there.”

Senior Revolutionary Guards commander Ali Reza Tangsiri said Iran had the right to ask any ships to identify themselves upon entering or leaving the Persian Gulf.

“It is a basic responsibility of patrolling units of the Revolutionary Guards to take necessary interception measures toward any vessels entering into the waters of the Persian Gulf,” Tangsiri said, according to the Mehr news agency.

Cosgriff objected to Iranian attempts to downplay the incident.

“I hope from this lesson they realize that we are concerned by small, high-speed vessels,” said Cosgriff. “I hope they understand we will take those actions we deem appropriate to defend our ships and our sailors.”

Riad Kahwaji, a Dubai-based analyst with the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, said Iran may have been seeking to send a “political message” to Arab gulf states to highlight the dangers of military confrontation.

“When somebody gets so close to a big ship then he’s very likely asking for trouble or trying to provoke something,” he said. “Opening fire means sparking a war. ... Does anyone really want to take that risk?”

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