Daily Telegraph: America issued a formal diplomatic protest yesterday over its claims that Iranian boats threatened to blow up a US naval patrol in the Gulf. The Daily Telegraph
By Damien McElroy
America issued a formal diplomatic protest yesterday over its claims that Iranian boats threatened to blow up a US naval patrol in the Gulf.
The announcement came after Iran released a video intended to discredit US claims that its ships were warned that they would “explode in a couple of minutes”.
The five-minute Iranian video shows an Iranian boat hailing three US ships for a routine identity check. After several exchanges, the encounter ends peacefully.
Last night the US Fifth Fleet, which operates out of Bahrain, said that it had “no way to know” that the explosion threat came from an Iranian boat. The American ships came within moments of opening fire.
Brig Gen Ali Fadavi, of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, accused Washington of generating a “media fuss” to coincide with President George W Bush’s visit to the Gulf.
