I’m going with the Lieutenant that was in charge of the boats really didn’t know what he was doing and let them stray too close to Farsi Island.
Farsi Island is really tiny, well under a mile per side and it’s close enough to a route between our naval base in Bahrain and Kuwait that if you weren’t paying attention and strayed just a bit east, you’d be well in range for a nutty Iranian Revolutionary Guard intercept from Farsi.
Iranian mullahs had already had their yachts and jets picked out to be bought with the billions they were going to get so they intervened and let the sailors loose to make sure they got them on schedule.
I’m also leaning towards an LT screw up. These boats were traveling from port to port...which makes me think that no particular ship was in charge of it, monitoring its position,etc...and they strayed too close to this island. What I don’t understand is why they didn’tnfight back. Their captors could have easily shot them all in the head.