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Letter to the editor

Gulf threat may not have come from Iranians, Pentagon says

By ROBIN WRIGHT, Washington Post
Published January 11, 2008

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon said Thursday that the radio threat to bomb U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf last weekend may not have come from the five Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboats that approached them - and may not even have been intended against U.S. targets.

The communication Sunday was made on radio channel 16, a common marine frequency used by ships and others in the region. "It could have been a threat aimed at some other nation or a myriad of other things," said Rear Adm. Frank Thorp IV, a spokesman for the Navy. "When you get a bridge-to-bridge call you have no way of knowing where it came from."

In the message recorded by the Navy, a heavily accented voice said, "I am coming to you. You will explode after a few minutes." But Farsi speakers and Iranians told the Washington Post that the accent did not sound Iranian.

In part because of the threatening language, the United States has elevated the encounter into an international incident. Twice this week, President Bush criticized Iran's behavior as provocative and warned of "serious consequences" if it happens again. He is due to head today to the Gulf, where containing Iran is expected to be a major theme of his talks in five oil-rich sheikdoms.

Pentagon officials insist that they never claimed Iran made the threat. "No one in the military has said that the transmission emanated from those boats. But when they hear it simultaneously to the behavior of those boats, it only adds to the tension," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.

The main threat, Pentagon officials said, was the way the five patrol boats swarmed erratically around the USS Port Royal, an Aegis cruiser, and an accompanying frigate and destroyer, and then dropped small white box-like items in the water.

Iran on Thursday released what it claimed was an abridged video of the same incident, which shows a calm exchange. "Slowly get a little closer ... can't make out the ship number," says a Revolutionary Guardsman on a small Iranian patrol boat, speaking in Farsi. "I hear something being announced from its loudspeakers, what is it saying? I think they're talking to us."

"Which channel?" says a second Iranian. "Coalition warship 73," he says, speaking in English through his radio mike. "This Iranian navy patrol boat. Request side number ... operating in the area this time."

An American ship radios back. "This is coalition warship 73. I read you loud and clear."

There is no indication of tensions that are said to have sparked the weekend encounter.

[Last modified January 11, 2008, 01:50:31]