http://bennauro.blogspot.com/2008/07/heightened-alert-in-gulf-combined-task.html
Combined Task Force 152 (link) is on heightened alert in the Gulf monitoring movements of vessels in and out of the Strait of Hormuz. Security officials fear an Al Qaeda attack is imminent.
Iran's military chiefs warned on Saturday that the Islamic republic would shut down the Strait of Hormuz vital for oil exports and use "blitzkrieg tactics" in the Gulf if it came under attack. "All the countries should know that if Iran's interests in the region are ignored, it is natural that we will not allow others to use it (the strait)," said army chief General Hassan Firouzabadi, quoted by the Fars news agency.
STEPPING BACK IN TIME... regarding the Strait of Homuz:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=11727
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 168-08
February 29, 2008
“Charges Referred Against Detainee al Darbi”
SNIPPET: “The Defense Department announced today that charges have been referred against Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi of Saudi Arabia.
The accused, al Darbi, is the brother-in-law of the Flight 77 hijacker al Mihdhar. Flight 77 is the plane that hit the Pentagon on Sept. 11. The two charges are: Conspiring with others to attack civilians, commit murder in violation of the law of war, destroy property in violation of the law of war, hazard a vessel and commit terrorism; and providing material support to terrorism. Al Darbi was allegedly involved in planning and procuring equipment for attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and off the coast of Yemen. The charges authorize a maximum sentence of confinement for life.
It is alleged that al Darbi traveled to Jalalabad and met with Usama bin Laden, trained at al Qaeda’s Jihad Wahl training camp and later served as a weapons instructor at another al Qaeda training camp. From 2001 through 2002, it is also alleged that al Darbi moved money from al Qaeda into financial institutions for expenses related to a plot to attack a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz or off the coast of Yemen.
The charge sheet further alleges that al Darbi joined in preparations for an al Qaeda terrorist operation by traveling to several countries to purchase a GPS device, a boat, and other equipment in late 2000 or early 2001. The boat, named “Adnan” would be loaded with explosives for future terrorist operations. The accused ultimately registered the boat in his name as the “al Rahal” under the Sao Tome flag and purchased a smaller boat to instruct Yemenis how to swim and pilot the boat. He is also alleged, in the spring of 2002, to have departed the United Arab Emirates on board the “al Rahal” destined for Yemen, diverted the boat to Somalia due to concerns with his own passport and to have discussed plans by satellite phone with high level al Qaeda operatives.”
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http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4116
“Presenter: U.S. Naval Forces Command and U.S. 5th Fleet Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff January 07, 2008
DoD News Briefing with Vice Adm. Cosgriff at the Pentagon, Arlington, Va.”
SNIPPET: “With respect to the encounter yesterday morning local time in the Strait of Hormuz, I think the facts are known to many of you. USS Port Royal, USS Hopper, USS Ingraham were in bound the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz routine transit.
In the early hours of the morning, daylight hours of the morning, they were encountered by five total small high-speed craft that we assessed to belong the Iranian Revolutionary Guard navy. The five boats approached the formation on the formation’s starboard bow in international waters slightly inside the gulf from the apex of the strait, broke into two groups, one to one side of the formation, one to the other. The groups maneuvered aggressively in the direction of the U.S. ships. They were called on radio; they were — ships’ whistles were sounded, those sorts of things, to draw attention to the fact that their maneuvers were a cause of concern to the commanding officers.
At one point during this encounter, we received a radio — the ships received a radio call that was threatening in nature, to the effect that they were closing our ships and that the ships might — the ships would explode, the U.S. ships would explode. Subsequently, two of these boats were observed dropping objects in the water, generally in the path of the final ship in the formation, the USS Ingraham. These objects were white box-like objects that floated, and obviously the ship passed by them safely.
The encounter continued, with the boats maneuvering close to stern and after — under 30 minutes total, they returned in the direction from whence they came, to the north, back towards Iranian territorial waters.
So I would reiterate it was a transit passage in international waters incidental to a routine inbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. ships were clearly marked, at daylight, decent visibility. The behavior of the Iranian ships was, in my estimation, unnecessary, without due regard for safety of navigation and unduly provocative in the sense of the aggregate of their maneuvers, the radio call and the dropping of objects in the water.
I’d like to report that the training of our ships as they came in was more than satisfactory. They stepped through the procedures carefully, with good discipline, with due regard for all the factors, while at the same time taking the reasonable precautions to place their ships in conditions of readiness consistent with the environment in which they were entering. So I was very proud of their performance and the training they received.”