[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [Iran01] AP: Iran says confrontation audio and video fabricated

[Barbara kessel]

This is toremind us: Don't count the President out of office while he
is still in it even if he has little support. Barbara

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael Lynn <mlynn226 at gmail.com>
Date: Jan 9, 2008 2:33 PM
Subject: [Iran01] AP: Iran says confrontation audio and video fabricated
To: noattackiran at yahoogroups.com, ICPJ Iran Working Group
<iran01 at ilcpj.org>, "NoIraqWar at yahoogroups.com"
<NoIraqWar at yahoogroups.com>,
chicagoprogressivealliance at yahoogroups.com


This is beginning to smell more and more Tonkinesque all the time. I
have no idea about the authenticity of the tapes, but what the
Iranians were alleged to have said seems rather far-fetched. How many
naval vessels announce their intention to attack and hence make
themselves a target? Especially against a far superior force.

Mike


Gulf Video "Fabricated," Iran Says
    The Associated Press

    Wednesday 09 January 2008

    Iran on Wednesday called video and audio released by the Pentagon
showing Iranian Revolutionary Guards boats confronting U.S. warships
in the Strait of Hormuz "fabricated," an English-language state-run
television station reported.

    State TV did not give the name of the Revolutionary Guard figure
and did not offer more details about how the official knew the footage
was "fabricated."

    The Pentagon on Tuesday released a four-minute, 20-second video
that included audio showing small Iranian boats swarming around U.S.
warships in the Persian Gulf. In the recording, a man speaking in
heavily accented English threatened, "I am coming to you.... You will
explode after ... minutes."

    The Iranian boats appeared to ignore repeated warnings from the
U.S. ships, including horn blasts and radio transmissions, according
to the video, which was shot from the bridge of the destroyer Hopper.

    From the Hopper, after spotting the approaching Iranian boats, a
U.S. Navy crew member says over the radio: "This is coalition warship.
I am engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law.
Intend no harm."

    The audio and video recordings were made separately but were
pulled together by the Navy. Often uneven and shaky, the video
condenses what Navy officials have said was a 20-minute or so clash.

    The top Navy commander in the Persian Gulf has said the Iranian
fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up the
Navy convoy as it passed near but outside Iranian waters on Sunday.
The Iranian fleet "maneuvered aggressively" and then fled as the
American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, Vice Adm. Kevin
Cosgriff said. No shots were fired.

    In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry has suggested that the Iranian
boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. Spokesman Mohammed Ali
Hosseini played down the incident. "That is something normal that
takes place every now and then for each party," he told the state news
agency IRNA.

    On Wednesday, Iran's Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar
reiterated that the incident was not unusual.

    "The identification of vessels passing through the Strait of
Hormuz by Iranian navy units is a natural occurrence," the official
IRNA news agency quoted Najjar. "Islamic Republic of Iran Navy units
always put questions to passing vessels and warships at the Strait of
Hormuz and they need to identify themselves. This is in accordance
with the normal procedures."

    Najjar called Western news reports that the boats threatened to
blow up the U.S. warships as "mischief."

    "[Iranian] Navy units ... asked them to identify themselves. They
responded accordingly and continued their path," IRNA quoted Najjar as
saying.

    President Bush on Tuesday denounced the incident as a "provocative act."

    "It is a dangerous situation," Bush said during a White House news
conference. "They should not have done it, pure and simple.... I don't
know what their thinking was, but I'm telling you what my thinking
was. I think it was a provocative act."

    Cosgriff also has disputed Iran's claims that the incident was a
routine encounter, saying Iran's "provocative" actions were "deadly
serious" to the U.S. military.


_______________________________________________
Iran01 mailing list
Iran01 at ilcpj.org
http://lists.ilcpj.org/mailman/listinfo/iran01