COs describe radio threat, Gulf encounter - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

COs describe radio threat, Gulf encounter

MANAMA, Bahrain — A threatening radio message to U.S. warships may have been a coincidence but was taken seriously because it came at the same time Iranian vessels swarmed the American fleet, the commander of one of the American ships said Sunday.

Cmdr. Jeffery James, of the destroyer Hopper, and Capt. David Adler, of the cruiser Port Royal, would not say how close the Navy was to firing at the Iranian ships on Jan. 6 near Iranian waters in the Strait of Hormuz. But the Iranians knew what they were doing when they charged the three U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf, they said.

“This was not a loose bunch of guys,” James said. “During this entire time, we were going through our pre-planned responses trying to warn them off before we had to take any lethal action. And fortunately for everyone involved, they turned outbound before we needed to open fire,” James said.

The two commanding officers gave a press conference Sunday at the Bahrain headquarters of the Navy’s 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf. Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have escalated since the incident, which occurred right before President Bush’s arrival in the region.

The U.S. released video and audio showing small Iranian boats swarming around American warships in the waters. In an audio recording, a man threatens in accented English, “I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes.”

Navy officials have not determined the source of the threatening radio call but believe it was related to the actions of the Iranian boats.

“Whether it was coincidental or not, it occurred at exactly the same time that these boats were around us, and they were placing objects in the water so the threat appeared to be building,” James said.

Adler added that he hoped other ships passing through the Gulf would avoid such actions in the future.

“We’re here to support regional stability, we’re not looking to start anything, what we would ask is that the other mariners at sea don’t act provocatively and nothing will happen,”

Iran has denied that its boats threatened the U.S. vessels, saying the incident was a normal occurrence, and accused Washington of fabricating video and audio it released. Iran’s government has released its own video, which appeared to be shot from a small boat bobbing at least 100 yards from the American warships.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini reiterated Sunday that the incident was not unusual and would not affect Iran’s policies in the region. He accused the Bush administration of trying to stir up tensions in the Gulf.

“Some political factions in the U.S. are pursuing adventurism to help Bush to spread Iran-phobia in the region,” Hosseini said at a weekly press conference. “U.S. officials should apologize to Iran, regional countries and the American people.”

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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran contributed to this report.

DISCUSS: Real threat or staged?