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Mark Gobell
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Joined: 24 Jul 2006
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 Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:54 am Post subject: Iranian Speedboats: Part 3 |
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US Ship Fires At 'Iranian' Speedboats
Updated:20:26, Friday April 25, 2008
A ship under US military command has fired "a few bursts" of warning shots towards two speedboats, believed to be Iranian.
USS Westward Venture
An American defence official confirmed the cargo ship was contracted by the US Military Sealift Command.
The Westward Venture was travelling north in international waters in the central Persian Gulf when the incident happened.
"They were able to avoid a serious incident by following the procedures that we use," said Commander Lydia Robertson, a spokeswoman for the US Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet.
She said the cargo ship was approached by two unidentified small boats, and the crew tried to establish radio contact.
When they got no reply, a flare was fired at the boats, which also got no response.
The cargo ship's security team then fired "a few bursts" of machine gun and rifle warning shots, according to Commander Robertson. "The small boats left the area a short time later," she said.
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A US defence official told the Reuters news agency the boats were believed to be Iranian.
But state-run TV in Iran was reporting that no confrontation between Iranian boats and a US ship took place.
"If shots were possibly fired, then they could have been shot at non-Iranian boats," an unidentified Iranian naval source was quoted as saying.
It is the third time this year that the United States has accused Iranian vessels in the Gulf of acting in a threatening way while Iran has insisted no confrontation took place.
In April, the US Navy said three speedboats approached a US patrol boat in the Gulf but stopped after a warning flare was fired.
In another incident in early January, five Iranian speedboats approached three US Navy war ships in the same area, fuelling tension between the two countries.
Iran described that incident as a routine event of identification while US officials said the Iranian vessels had behaved in a threatening manner.
Source
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The Medium is the Massage - Marshall McLuhan. |
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fish5133
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Joined: 13 Sep 2006
Posts: 2568
Location: One breath from Glory
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| Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 8:43 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | The latest move rachets up tension further after US military chiefs warned Iran to stop supporting Iraqi militias - or face its firepower.
The Pentagon said the Tehran government had boosted its support for neighbouring militias fighting US troops. Ominously, it warned Washington had 'military options'.
Iran denies all of these charges and blames the United States for instability in Iraq and the Middle East.
Adm Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military had evidence Iran was sending new weapons to Iraqi insurgents despite Tehran's commitment to the government in Baghdad that it would halt such support.
Mr Mullen said: 'The Iranian government pledged to halt such activity some months ago. It's plainly obvious they have not. Indeed, they seem to have gone the other way.'
He was 'extremely concerned' about Iran's activities throughout the region, including its support for Islamist groups Hezbollah and Hamas.
Mr Mullen said the United States would continue to rely on diplomatic and economic methods to encourage Iran to change, but that the Pentagon had military options it could consider.
He added: 'When I say I don't want to take any military options off the table, that certainly more than implies that we have military options. That kind of planning activity has been going on for a long time. I think it will go on for some time into the future.' |
Being very restrained the US as they just invaded Iraq on a lie. without provocation
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JO911B.
"for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places " Eph.6 v 12 |
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