Iran provocation has begun! Is Gulf of Tonkin event near?!?!

[MikeWB]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080107/D8U14BAO0.html

Quote:WASHINGTON (AP) - In what U.S. officials called a serious provocation, Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, threatening to explode the American vessels.
U.S. forces were on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats in the early Sunday incident, when the boats turned and moved away, a Pentagon official said. "It is the most serious provocation of this sort that we've seen yet," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
The incident occurred at about 5 a.m. local time Sunday as a U.S. Navy cruiser, destroyer and frigate were on their way into the Persian Gulf and passing through the strait - a major oil shipping route.
Five small boats began charging the U.S. ships, dropping boxes in the water in front of the ships and forcing the U.S. ships to take evasive maneuvers, the Pentagon official said.
There were no injuries but the official said there could have been, because the Iranian boats turned away "literally at the very moment that U.S. forces were preparing to open fire" in self defense.
The official said he didn't have the precise transcript of communications that passed between the two forces, but said the Iranians radioed something like "we're coming at you and you'll explode in a couple minutes."
Historical tensions between the two nations have increased in recent years over Washington's charge that Tehran has been developing nuclear weapons and supplying and training Iraqi insurgents using roadside bombs - the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq.
In another incident off its coast, Iranian Revolutionary Guard sailors last March captured 15 British sailors and held them for nearly two weeks.
The 15 sailors from HMS Cornwall, including one woman, were captured on March 23. Iran claims the crew, operating in a small patrol craft, had intruded into Iranian waters - a claim denied by Britain.
This weekend's incident comes as President Bush's first major trip to the Middle East is approaching. While scheduled to meet the leaders of Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other regional nations Jan. 9-16, Bush is expected to try to bolster the troubled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians but is also likely to seek backing for U.S. concerns about Iran.
Iran is under two sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment, a potential pathway to nuclear arms, and Washington is pushing for additional U.N. penalties. But a recent U.S. intelligence assessment that it probably shut down a clandestine weapons program three years ago have led to increased resistance to such a move from permanent Security Council members Russia and China, which have strategic and trade ties with Tehran.
At about this time last year, Bush announced he was sending a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf region in a show of force against Iran.
The U.S. Navy quietly scaled back to one carrier group several months later. But while the two were there, they staged two major exercises off Iran's coast.
The war games amounted to U.S. muscle-flexing at a time when Tehran increasingly was at loggerheads with the international community over its disputed nuclear program and threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz for oil transports in case of a U.S. military strike on Iran.
Since then, there have been diplomatic overtures aimed at calming tensions. A May 28 meeting concerning security in Iraq between U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, broke a 27-year diplomatic freeze between the two countries.
A planned Dec. 18 meeting between Iranian and American security, military and diplomatic experts was canceled a few days before it was to be held. At the time, Iranian officials said it was a scheduling problem while U.S. officials referred questions to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
And in the past month or so, U.S. officials have said Tehran appears to have slowed or halted the flow of illegal weapons across the frontier between Iran and Iraq. Iran has denied the arms smuggling accusations, insisting that it is doing its best to help stabilize its embattled western neighbor.
Iranians recently were reported to be upset that although they contributed to the improving security situation in Iraq, U.S. officials have not done enough to acknowledge it.
The United States maintains nearly 40,000 troops in Gulf countries other than Iraq, with the largest group in Kuwait and others in Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/mi...icle3147217.ece

Quote:Times Online
January 7, 2008
Iran speedboats 'threatened suicide attack on US' in Strait of Hormuz

(AFP/Getty)
Iranian helicopters and ships taking part in manoeuvres in the Strait of Hormuz in 2000
Times Online and agencies in Washington
The White House issued a stern warning to Tehran today after Iranian speedboats buzzed three US navy ships passing through the strategic Strait of Hormuz and reportedly threatened to blow them up.

A Pentagon official said that US forces were "literally" on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats and had moved to man their guns when the Iranians turned and sped away. No shots were fired in the incident yesterday morning in one of the world's key shipping routes for crude oil.

"We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future," said Gordon Johnson, spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, in a terse statement.

Details of the incident remain unclear, but the skipper of one of the five Iranians speedboats reportedly said in a radio transmission: "I’m coming at you and you will blow up in a couple of minutes."

RELATED LINKS
How $100 oil will change your life
For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets
Woman among seven hanged in Iran
"It is the most serious provocation of this sort that we’ve seen yet," a Pentagon official said.

News of the stand-off emerged as President Bush prepares to leave tomorrow on a trip to the Middle East in which he is expected to tackle Iran's growing regional influence.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have risen sharply recent years over Washington's charge that Tehran had been trying to develop nuclear weapons, as well as supplying and training Shia Muslim insurgents in Iraq.

Yesterday's face-off was the most serious such incident since the Revolutionary Guard's seizure of eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Marines from the HMS Cornwall last March in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in the Gulf. Iran claimed that the 15 had strayed into Iranian waters, which Britain denied.

The latest incident occurred at about 5 am local time on Sunday as a US Navy cruiser, destroyer and frigate were crossing the strait on their way into the Gulf when they were buzzed by the speedboats, which dropped boxes in the water in front of them.

Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the American vessels were in international waters, making a normal transit into the Gulf. He said that the Iranian boats were operating at "distances and speeds that showed reckless and dangerous intent – reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent".

Mr Whitman said that the episode lasted 15 to 20 minutes but would not say whether officials know for certain whether the were vessels were Iranian Revolutionary Guard or regular Iranian navy. The Revolutionary Guard forces have been known to be more aggressive than the regular navy.

"At least some were visibly armed. Small Iranian fastboats made some aggressive manoeuvres against our vessels and indicated some hostile intent," he said.

[TeslaandLyne]

The last time we shot down an airliner.

Being on alert is a bad thing... things happen to someone else.

But then again a ship given orders to be on patrol... that gets hit.

[Ognir]

Yeah right, little gun boat and 3 US WAR ships :wink:

[Guest]

if it even happened as reported :bored:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/World_Oil_Tran...Background.html

http://www.upi.com/International_Securit...g_Threats/

[Rosebery]

Quote:if it even happened as reported

Oh I suspect it probably did - you know the old "my little boat can fuck with your great big grey war canoe" stuff. Battle of wills. Mind you USN will have blown it way out of proportion.

Cheers

[Guest]

Quote:

Quote:

Oh I suspect it probably did - you know the old "my little boat can fuck with your great big grey war canoe" stuff. Mind you USN will have blown it way out of proportion.

Cheers

sure that's what I meant by "as reported"

cheers

http://www.iranpressnews.com/english/source/033372.html

[Rosebery]

Quote:sure that's what I meant by "as reported"

Ahh OK then.

Cheers

[Guest]

http://www.iranpressnews.com/english/source/033600.html

[Hei Hu Quan]

Are these toolboxes so desperate that they're not even writing a fresh script? They are actually going to use the Gulf of Tonkin ruse for war again? Like some shitty Hollywood remake. Wow, how grindingly in-your-face do they want to get? That's what I call a uniquely bold and spitefully swaggering arrogance.

[TeslaandLyne]

The Cole incident must have them jittery.

Wonder if they took target practice on the boxes.

If they didn't, look for an upgrade in ship defenses.

IRAN not into the suicide mode yet.

Wonder what a Bali sized munition would do to an IRANIAN gun boat.

KABOOM thats them all over.

And a hole in the ocean.

[Guest]

One more topic to move.... :sigh:

Best placed in Wars and rumors of...

Come on guys, be tidy

[StarChild]

Quote:Yeah right, little gun boat and 3 US WAR ships :wink:

Lol good one! Those little boats can provoke all they want before they end up at the bottom of the sea. :laugh:

[TeslaandLyne]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4EMuahjhxM

Those balloon boats with suicidal Arabs are a threat like the Cole incident.

Not the same as the IRAQ missile that hit a ship way back when.
That didn't cause a war, it was Saddam getting to those slant drilling
oil wells. He did it in a nasty way. Remember all the oil well fires,
put out by liquid nitrogen.

Remember all the burnt up Arabs that flew into the world trade center
towers and pentagon and the Pennsylvania dirt.

Arabs can do it if they want to.
Or we can fake it if we want to.

Was this from Bush after getting an earful of Israeli gibberish about the
middle East situation.

Two war, two situations. Slant oil wells and WMDs.