Admiral Details Iranian Challenge to U.S. Ships

American Forces Press Service ^ | Jim Garamone

[SandRat]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2008 – The commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet in the Middle East today called the behavior of Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats that buzzed three U.S. Navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday “unduly provocative.” 

Navy Vice Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff, who also commands U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, briefed Pentagon reporters via video teleconference from his headquarters in Manama, Bahrain.

He said the USS Port Royal, USS Hopper, USS Ingraham were inbound to the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz yesterday morning. The ships were in the midst of a routine transit in the early daylight hours, the admiral said. Five Iranian Revolutionary Guard high-speed craft came from the north and approached the U.S. ships.

“The five boats approached the U.S. formation on its starboard bow in international waters slightly inside the Gulf from the apex of the strait,” Cosgriff said.

The Iranian boats broke into two groups and went on both sides of the U.S. formation. “The groups maneuvered aggressively in the direction of the U.S. ships,” Cosgriff said.

U.S. captains called on the radio and sounded the ships’ horns to warn the Iranians off, he said. “The (U.S.) ships received a radio call that was threatening to our ships to the effect that they were closing our ships and that the U.S. ships would explode,” Cosgriff said.

Subsequently, U.S. sailors observed two of the Iranian boats dropping objects in the water generally in the path of the USS Ingraham. “These objects were white box-like objects that floated,” the admiral said. “Obviously the Ingraham passed by safely.”

The boats maneuvered close astern, and after 30 minutes they returned in the direction from which they came, back toward Iranian territorial waters. The Iranian boats approached within 500 yards of the U.S. ships, the admiral said.

“It was transit passage in international waters incidental to a routing inbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz,” Cosgriff said. “The U.S. ships were clearly marked. It was daylight, (with) decent visibility.

“The behavior of the Iranian ships was unnecessary,” he continued, “without due regard to safety of navigation and unduly provocative in the aggregate of their maneuvers, the radio call and the dropping of objects in the water.”

The admiral praised the U.S. ships’ crews, saying they stepped through procedures carefully, with good discipline and with due regard for all the factors. “I was very proud of their performance and the training they received,” Cosgriff said.

Biographies:
Vice Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff, USN

Related Sites:
U.S. 5th Fleet/U.S. Naval Forces Central Command
Briefing Transcript

Related Articles:
Iranian Boats Provoke ‘Serious Incident’ in Strait of Hormuz
Transcript: Pentagon Briefing

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[DoughtyOne]

I wonder what type of ships the Iranians employed. Five hundred yards seems like it could be problematic for anti-ship actions under the right circumstances. Of course if these were small craft, they may not have been very threatening at all.

Still, I’d have my sights on them just in case.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

I think a shot across their bow(s) would have been appropriate.IMHO

[38special]

Why didn’t they blow ‘em out of the water?

[mylife]

What would Obama do?

[AdvisorB]

The day is not far off when we will have to settle all the family business, going back to 1979. We have been in a state of undeclared war with this radical shia fascist entity. The sooner we get it on, and get this over with, the better off we will be.

I would rather fight them now while they don’t have the bomb, than to fight them later when they’ve handed the nukes to hezbollah, hamas, the syrian dictatorship, alqaeda elements, and any other radical muslim group with a gripe.

[EyeGuy]

I guess these Iranian macho men believe they are conducting war games, rehearsing for future encounters.

In reality, the only thing they are rehearsing is their own death. to stae the obvious, the Iranians are not in the same class as the USN. Not even close.

[SpaceBar]

So now they know that if they deploy small unidentifiable floating objects in the water, we will just watch them.

[Free Vulcan]

They stood down just in time basically. I’m glad actually. Now the world knows what they did, if they try it again we can obliterate them and no one will be able to claim we’re trigger happy.

[Rb ver. 2.0]

"These were peaceful Iranian fisherman chasing a school of fish to feed to their families who work in the baby milk factory"

[DoughtyOne]

I’m not sure what the situation is along the southern Iranian coast. They may not have wanted to set up a situation where the Iranians would take pot shots at commercial oil vessels along the Straights of Hormuz.

We could clear out their missiles, but would then have to keep an eye on them from here on out.

Iran is going to have to be smacked down sometime soon.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this type of activity has been taking place for a while. Simply reporting it via the media may let Iran know this is going to stop, because the U.S. is now willing to go on the record, something they haven’t done to this point.

We may be sending a message with this report. And if that doesn’t work, we may be ready to make a big deal out of it, and dust off Iran’s shorts in the process.

That’s my guess. Others may have a better explanation.

[dearolddad]

What would Obama do?

Crap his drawers?

[Theo]

Exactly. Do we need a repeat of the USS Cole?

[pgkdan]

Why didn’t they blow them out of the water? Does the Admiral remember the USS Cole?

[edcoil]

I have the same question. Do we need another Cole before we use all the military we pay for?

[WoofDog123]

“In reality, the only thing they are rehearsing is their own death. to stae the obvious, the Iranians are not in the same class as the USN. Not even close.”

Some intelligent speculation on another thread about either hoping or rehearsing to provoke US ships into firing on them, creating a self-defense justification for the shore batteries to open up. Some posters who apparently have been there/done that suggest that at such close range the batteries would present a significant problem for the ships at that particular pinch point.

[pgkdan]

Wow. You beat me by 5 seconds! Great minds really do think alike.

[Paulus Invictus]

He said time after time he intends to remove all our military from the area.

[Las Vegas Dave]

So now they know that if they deploy small unidentifiable floating objects in the water, we will just watch them.

Exactly!