Iranians harassed U.S. ships, Navy confirms
Iranians harassed U.S. ships, Navy confirms
The White House warns Tehran after the incident in the Persian Gulf. Americans were preparing to fire on the approaching vessels, an official says.
By Ramin Mostaghim and Borzou Daragahi, Special to The Times
January 8, 2008
TEHRAN -- A U.S. Navy official in Bahrain today confirmed the broad outlines of a weekend confrontation between U.S. and Iranian warships in the Persian Gulf.
Citing unnamed military officials in Washington, CNN, NBC and other news outlets reported today that one of five Iranian ships came within 200 yards of a group of three U.S. naval vessels Saturday night in international waters within the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage through which much of the gulf's oil reaches the world.
According to CNN's report, the Iranians radioed the Americans with a threatening remark. "I am coming at you," the Iranian said, according to military officials cited by CNN. "You will explode in a couple minutes."
U.S. troops manned their positions and officers prepared to give the order to fire, but the Iranians turned away, the U.S. officials told reporters in Washington. No shots were fired.
U.S. officials in the region provided few details of the incident other than to confirm a confrontation. "There was an incident that happened," said a Navy official reached by phone in Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf. "No American ships were taken over."
The White House called on Iran to desist from such moves. "We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, according to Reuters.
Iranian Foreign Ministry and security officials said they could not confirm the incident. Mohammed Ali Hosseini, a spokesman for the ministry, and Hamid Reza Haji Babaie, head of parliament's National Security Committee, said today that they had not yet been able to get information about any such confrontation, which reportedly involved the navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a parallel military branch allied with Iranian hard-liners who sometimes have little to do with Iran's official governing bodies.
But the incident has prompted fears that hard-liners within the Iranian establishment are trying to sabotage a reduction in tensions between Washington and Iran. One source close to Iran's hard-line camp said Iranians were justified in warning U.S. or any other forces from straying into their territorial waters.
"Generally speaking, according to the supreme leader's [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's] guidelines, any foreign fleet of vessels or any foreign jet fighter trespassing Iran's water or land borders or air, whether in the Caspian Sea or Persian Gulf or Shatt al Arab, the Revolutionary Guards should react or at least threaten to counterattack," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It is general rule, so if U.S. forces trespass, we will respond."
Iran and the U.S. are at odds over Tehran's nuclear program and support for militant groups throughout the Middle East. The incident follows the December release of a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate that undercut the possibility of war between America and Iran by reporting that Tehran had ceased a clandestine nuclear weapons program in 2003. It also follows an International Atomic Energy Agency report that generally praised Iran's efforts to come clean on its past nuclear activities.
Last week, Khamenei, the country's ultimate military and political authority, spoke in his Friday sermon of the possibility of one day normalizing relations with Washington, though he said now was not the time for a diplomatic breakthrough.
Analysts in the region said the easing of international tensions plays against hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose backers face a stiff challenge from reformist and moderates in upcoming parliamentary elections. One analyst and military expert said the timing of the incident may indicate that some in Iran's political and military establishment don't want an end to the tensions between Iran and the U.S.
"If the news is correct, it means some faction inside the country wants to make the water murky and create tension at the expense of the detente between U.S. and Iran at this juncture," said Davoud Hermidas Bavand, a Tehran political scientist. "The NIE and IAEA reports provided the window for reducing tension. But it seems some factions do not want it, which is very dangerous now. It's playing with fire."
The Revolutionary Guards in March detained 15 British sailors and Marines in disputed gulf waters off the coast of Iraq. The troops were released after about two weeks in captivity.
daragahi@latimes.com
Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran and Times staff writer Daragahi from Beirut.
Ellie
