Persian Gulf Of Tonkin?

You are correct in that this sort of thing is historically fairly common. The Soviet and U.S. Navies used to have a lot of fun playing these little games with each other. Its pretty much just a case of international cock-waving.

However, there are these little parts:

and:

If this really happened then it goes well above and beyond the usual games and does venture into some pretty dangerous territory. I don't know if it did really happen or not, I'm just saying.

 

Why the sarcasm? I'm not saying it happened, I'm just saying it isn't as unlikely as you may think.

 

When you have the mighty power of Iran behind you confidence like that comes naturally.

 

Again, you'd be surprised.

But, if this did happen, the point isn't whether or not they really intended to blow up a vessel, the point is they threatened to do it. As you can imagine, people tend to get a little jumpy when someone threatens to blow them up. I really wouldn't want to see something bad happen because some Iranian (or American) sailor said something stupid over the radio.

 

I'm glad you were on our side.

 

This reminds me of the stories about smart-asses under police surveillance who take to throwing blank keys down sewers and paper wrapped rocks into icy rivers. It may not be a good long term scheme but it sure is fun to make the elephant dance.

 

I am glad to see this story meet appropriate skepticism, and I would personally prefer to wait until we learn more about the actual facts before making any definitive comments. For now, I will only say that the part about the radio transmission seems particularly incredulous. Otherwise, the real issue to me is whether the US forces were about to open fire on the Iranian boats, as the Americans have claimed? If true, that would raise serious questions in my mind, especially if the part about the radio transmission is bogus. The rest of the story, on the other hand, is nothing unusual in terms of what happens in the Persian Gulf between Iranian and US forces rather regularly, as Iranian forces certainly track the US forces and occasionally do approach them and might on occasion try to test their actions and reactions as well.

I heard a report on Al Jazeera indicating that the commander of the revolutionary guards has been ordered to appear before the Iranian parliament to respond to questions on this incident. Certainly, if the part about the radio transmission is correct (I highly doubt it), that aspect of the incident would require clarification from the revolutionary guards. In the meantime, I hope that any exaggeration regarding this incident on the part of unnamed US sources, particularly as it relates to the alleged radio transmission, will be seriously scrutinized in the US as well. If it turns out that the story about the radio transmission is bogus, but that the US forces were indeed about to open fire on the Iranian boats, then clearly the Bush administration has lost all its senses and is trying to provoke an incident that could lead to war between the two countries.

 

I agree with you to an extent. The one thing that I will point out is that if an Irainian (or any other) boat got as close as 200 yards from a US warship, that US ship would have a right to consider hostile action. Remember that the rules of the game changed a bit after the USS Cole incident. Taking defensive action is not an incitement to war. Although not notifying the other boat before hand would be an issue.

 

What are the US ships doing in the Strait of Hormuz to begin with? I thought most of Hormuz is within Iran's territorial waters, mainland Iran is on one side and there are Iranian Islands on the other side.

 

Who had "before the NH primary" in the Bomb Iran prediction thread? You just might be the lucky winner.

 

Watching out for our interests...

"...it is the only sea route through which oil from Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, as well as most of United Arab Emirates, can be transported..."

 

Iran and the US regularly test each other in the Persian Gulf and quite regularly operate very close to one another. Close enough for the revolutionary guards to even claim to have painted Iran's insignia on one of the US warships not long ago, and for them to take close shot pictures of US forces on regular occasion. One of the latest incidents, indeed, involved a US warship that was about to host the US Secretary of Defense a couple months ago, with Iranian vessels in eyesight of the US warship in question. The two aspects of this incident that are different relate, first, to the claim regarding the threatening radio transmission from the Iranian boats (which I doubt is accurate), and secondly the notion that the US forces were about to open fire on the Iranian boats (which I will not discount, but would not take at face value either as such an action would have serious ramifications and would not be undertaken willy nilly).

In the meantime, Iran has confirmed that there was an "incident" between the two sides, but otherwise played it down saying it was routine and nothing out of the ordinary.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSBLA75955620080107

 

You doubt the radio transmission claims. Fine. I also doubt the claims that the Irainians did not rocognize that the ships were American. A decent set of binoculars are enough to make that ID from 1000 yards away.

This incident is likely a pissing match between us, with both sides providing the spin thier respective superiors wanted.

Have a nice day. Peace be unto you.

 

Blow 'em up. Duh.

 

That's exactly what it is. Like I said, this sort of thing used to happen all the time between the Soviet and U.S. Navies. There are legendary stories about some of these incidents. But there are certain lines that were not, nor should ever be crossed. A small craft speeding directly at a vessel, a broadcasted threat, dropping things in the water in front of the vessel, etc. I'm not saying these things did or did not happen, I doubt we'll ever know, but if they did, someone crossed the line.

 

What precisely do you mean if...?

 

I certainly can wave my cock with the best of them.