# Five Iranian Boats threaten 3 US Navy ships **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 8, 2008, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716 "2008-01-08T09:48:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/121 "2008-01-10T21:36:41Z")
It sounds like “request side number of helo operating in area, over.” Meh. Routine, seems like. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/122 "2008-01-11T00:37:36Z")
[U.S.: Voices on Recording May Not Have Been From Iranian Speedboats](http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4115702&page=1) > [@](#): > > Just two days after the U.S. Navy released the eerie video of Iranian speedboats swarming around American warships, which featured a chilling threat in English, the Navy is saying that the voice on the tape could have come from the shore or from another ship. > > The near-clash occurred over the weekend in the Strait of Hormuz. On the U.S.-released recording, a voice can be heard saying to the Americans, “I am coming to you. You will explode after a few minutes.” > > The Navy never said specifically where the voices came from, but many were left with the impression they had come from the speedboats because of the way the Navy footage was edited. > > Today, the spokesperson for the U.S. admiral in charge of the Fifth Fleet clarified to ABC News that the threat may have come from the Iranian boats, or it may have come from somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/123 "2008-01-11T00:49:52Z")
GW is a pussy. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/124 "2008-01-11T03:41:23Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] [U.S.: Voices on Recording May Not Have Been From Iranian Speedboats](http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4115702&page=1) [/QUOTE] I can say by experience, that in a boat like those, going at that speed, it`s pretty darn noisy; the engine and splashing must have been heard on the radio. Is there a link to some audio of the boats transmisions as recorded on the US ships?, that is, one that can be certainly attributed to them (as in the "Coalition warship number 73 this is an Iranian patrol," quote). Then it would be possible to compare and contrast the procedural communications with Frankenstein`s threat. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/125 "2008-01-11T03:46:46Z")
> [@](#): > > …clarified to ABC News that the threat may have come from the Iranian boats, or it may have come from somewhere else. Now that is one clarifyin’ mother fucker! ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/126 "2008-01-11T03:51:25Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Now that is one clarifyin’ mother fucker! [/QUOTE] By the tone of that voice it may have as well been broadcasted from planet Zerg. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/127 "2008-01-11T07:44:18Z")
> [@](#): > > …a voice can be heard saying to the Americans, “I am coming to you. You will explode after a few minutes.” Is it possible they tapped into a phone sex line for someone studying English as a second language? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/128 "2008-01-11T07:57:15Z")
[QUOTE=Ale] By the tone of that voice it may have as well been broadcasted from planet Zerg. [/QUOTE] Nah; then it would have been "_FOR THE SWARM ! !"_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/129 "2008-01-11T12:52:03Z")
From [Glenn Greenwald at Salon](http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/01/10/iran/index.html) > [@](#): > > Even the Pentagon itself is now acknowledging the lack of proof for the initial version, “saying that the voice on the tape could have come from the shore or from another ship.” […] > > The video released by the U.S. military contained video and audio that were patched together, and as Cernig notes, the audio containing the threatening messages was suspicious from the start: > > The section of the released tape which contains the actual threat to “blow up” anyone, as I noted yesterday, comes at the very end and is very much unconnected in any causal sense to the rest of it. The sound is clearer and less cluttered by background noise, while there is no video accompanying it – the only such section of the tape – just an ominously black screen. The accent of the alleged Iranian threatener is way wrong. I’ve known several Iranians well in the UK and their accents when speaking English were all very different from that on the tape – less gutteral. > > Moreover, the audio and video released by the Iranians, from the vantage point of one of the Iranian speed boats, shows verbal interaction between them and one of the American ships, in which each is identifying themselves to the other. > > The bit about the “white boxes” being dropped into the water seems almost equally dubious. Neither the video of the incident released by the U.S. military, nor the video version released by the Iranian government, includes any such event, nor are there any references to it at all on the audio. I haven’t seen any of the videos. Is it true that none of them show any “white boxes” or contain any audio discussing any such boxes? The bullshit audio addition seems like the 13th strike of the clock on this one. If they’re going to dummy up some kind of verbal threat, I think the rest of the initial version of this incident is very suspect. It woudl be fucking nice for the press to be a bit less credulous. Come on, just once, please go into a story with the mindset that this administration and the current government just might not exactly be telling you the whole truth? **Moto** is supposed to buy all this shit. It’s his life mission to be a dupe and a stooge. He doesn’t mind the rug being pulled out from under him just about every single time. We are not all **Motos**. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/130 "2008-01-11T15:22:33Z")
Even if we leave aside the boxes and the audio, there still is the fact that the boats were coming way too close to warships moving through the Strait of Hormuz. That in itself is a threatening act - and after the Cole incident might get a boat blasted out of the water if they get too close. I watched the video that people are quibbling over, and the sailors on the Navy ships were sufficiently unsure of the intentions of the Iranians that they had to sound the danger signal [(Rule 34, paragraph d of the International Navigation Rules)](http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/mwv/navrules/rules/Rule34.htm) on the ship’s horn. It can clearly be heard as ten short blasts - unmistakable. Also unmistakable is how close the Iranians came. You will note, **Hentor** , that I have advocated restraint in dealing with the Iranians. And for this reasonable position, you attack me as a dupe and a stooge. I don’t think that is fair. I invite you to watch the video in question with an open mind, mindful of the things I have pointed out and the rules of responsible navigation, and tell me what you really think. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/131 "2008-01-11T15:34:51Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] You will note, **Hentor** , that I have advocated restraint in dealing with the Iranians. And for this reasonable position, you attack me as a dupe and a stooge. [/quote] Yet here you are again implying that blasting them from the water could be an expected result. This is fairly cloudy restraint. But you were also asserting that these white boxes were dropped right in front of the ships, and that the contents could take a long time to examine. What white boxes? How many? Where were they really dropped? Where are they now? If you want to set them aside, along with the apparently “I must break you”\* audio mashup, you’ve really moved a long way from both the initial claims and your posts earlier in the thread. If there were no boxes, you have indeed been duped, and your statements of alarm expressed to others here about them would put you in the role of a stooge. If you don’t like those roles, perhaps you should engage in more qualified and skeptical consideration of future claims made by the government. \*I’m not claiming that it was really Ivan Drago’s voice. It’s just that the description of the voice, with its clarity and difference in accent, sounds so ludicrous that they could have done the kind of grabbing of video and audio that I did using two VCRs back when I was an adolescent. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/132 "2008-01-11T15:45:11Z")
I will certainly wait and see. Perhaps you ought to do the same. You seem to be jumping to some conclusions yourself. Any thoughts on why the Navy would be sounding ten blasts on the ship’s horn if there was no danger? Any thoughts on the fact that the boats were so close to the Navy ships? Do you think that this was safe? I would appreciate an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/133 "2008-01-11T15:49:34Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] If there were no boxes, you have indeed been duped, and your statements of alarm expressed to others here about them would put you in the role of a stooge. [/QUOTE] You know what? Fuck you. I was going off the same news reports as everyone else. If you want to label someone a stooge, call CNN or the New York Times. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/134 "2008-01-11T16:02:29Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] Yet here you are again implying that blasting them from the water could be an expected result. This is fairly cloudy restraint. [/QUOTE] No it isn’t. Nobody supposes that restraint means that we will never act. It means that we won’t act unless pushed too far. Unless, of course, you’re **Hentor**. I’m sure glad you don’t run things, if this is an indication of your thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/135 "2008-01-11T16:10:29Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] I will certainly wait and see. Perhaps you ought to do the same. You seem to be jumping to some conclusions yourself. Any thoughts on why the Navy would be sounding ten blasts on the ship’s horn if there was no danger? Any thoughts on the fact that the boats were so close to the Navy ships? Do you think that this was safe? I would appreciate an answer. [/QUOTE] I don’t know how close the boats were. If someone is using a doctored video to support their claims, I’m going to be dubious about any and all of those claims. I’m going to be doubly dubious if I’ve been tricked by someone in the past. As to the level of danger, I guess I can only go by what U.S. 5th Fleet Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff said about it: > [@](#): > > ADM. COSGRIFF: Neither anti-ship missiles nor torpedoes, and I wouldn’t characterize the posture of the U.S. 5th Fleet as afraid of these ships or these three U.S. ships afraid of these small boats. Our ships were making a normal transit of the Strait of Hormuz. They followed the procedures they’ve been trained to follow to increase their own readiness in the face of events like this, and as the Iranian behavior continued during this interaction, our ships stepped through there, increased readiness, the pace. And I didn’t get the sense from the reports I was receiving that there was a sense of being afraid of these five boats. That said, we take the potential for a small craft to inflict damage against a larger ship seriously, and we would be irresponsible if we didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/136 "2008-01-11T16:12:03Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] No it isn’t. Nobody supposes that restraint means that we will never act. It means that we won’t act unless pushed too far. Unless, of course, you’re **Hentor**. I’m sure glad you don’t run things, if this is an indication of your thinking. [/QUOTE] Aw, now you’re just being a pussy about it. What’s saddest is that it took you three consecutive posts to come up with something so weak. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/137 "2008-01-11T16:12:31Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] I was going off the same news reports as everyone else. [/QUOTE] Nope, _some_ of us looked up early reports of the incident at the navy’s website and went from there, instead of uncritically accepting every anonymously sourced tidbit that popped up on the ‘news’ outlets. I for one am getting very tired of seeing the US taken to school by the likes of the fucking Iranians. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/138 "2008-01-11T16:20:56Z")
**Moto** , issues of nautical safety are at some remove from issues of impending combat. Or, at least, let’s hope so. The danger isn’t from outright fraud, the danger comes from exaggeration and misinterpretation. Personally, I don’t actually believe that LBJ deliberately fabricated the Tonkin Bay incident, I think he saw what he wanted to see, what he was inclined to see. Consider: if Bush could have a war with Iran on his best terms…a war where Iran is clearly the aggressor, a war that would rally the people behind him, a war almost certain to be quick and victorious, a war that would advance the neo-con agenda…don’t you think he’s eager for that? How hard is it to convince a man of something he dearly wants to believe? And keep in mind: there are other nations, other groups, who would be tickled to death if a war between Iran and America could be fomented. Fanatical Sunni Muslims, for instance, who feel threatened by a Shia ascendancy. And, of course, Israel. Among others. I’m not nearly so afraid of villainy as I am afraid of stupidity. And nothing enhances stupidity like fear. Well, maybe lust… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/139 "2008-01-11T16:28:04Z")
One thing in passing: these motorboats, where are the markings one would expect on a military vessel? Where’s the flag? What identifies the boats as vessels of the Iranian Navy? Where are the weapons? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716/140 "2008-01-11T16:49:37Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] One thing in passing: these motorboats, where are the markings one would expect on a military vessel? Where’s the flag? What identifies the boats as vessels of the Iranian Navy? Where are the weapons? [/QUOTE] Iran has two navies. The Iranian Navy is actually the smaller of the two in terms of personnel - they use the traditional corvettes, frigates, amphibs, and a couple of subs. The larger of the two navies is employed by the Islamic Revolution’s Guards Corps. It uses “Boghammars” a brand name for a lightly armed Swedish speedboat that has since become a general term for an improvised naval fighting vessel. This is what was employed in the harassment operation. We have tangled with these Boghammars before - we went against both these and more conventional Iranian ships during the Tanker War. It isn’t at all likely that these were Iranian civilians going against our ships, given how their society is organized. So you can figure this out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-iranian-boats-threaten-3-us-navy-ships/432716.md?page=8)