US Military Officials Complain of Iranian Vessels Harassing US Navy in Persian Gulf

Whether or not recent US actions towards Iran also qualify as harassment was not addressed

by John Glaser, January 14, 2012

U.S. military officials have told CNN that Navy and Coast Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf have recently been “harassed” by Iranian vessels twice earlier this month.

US Navy warships in the Persian Gulf

The incidents occurred on January 6, according to an anonymous senior U.S. military official. In the first, the USS New Orleans was sailing through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf when three Iranian Navy speed boats rapidly approached within 500 yards of the ship. In a second incident, U.S. personnel reported being approached by three high speed Iranian boats and seeing a forward gun on at least one of the vessels.

The Iranians allegedly did not respond to whistle signals or voice queries from the New Orleans, but the boats eventually broke away.

There is no way to confirm what the unnamed U.S. military officials said about the so-called “harassment” in the Gulf, even though CNN reported the allegations as fact.

Left out of CNN’s equation is whether the U.S. waging two aggressive, unnecessary wars directly along Iran’s east and west borders, constantly flooding the Persian Gulf with fleets of navy warships, bribing client states surrounding Iranian territory with weapons systems and money to allow U.S. military bases there, heaping restrictive sanctions on Iran’s energy and banking industries, flying spy drones above Iranian territory, launching cyber-attacks, proxy wars, and assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists qualifies as harassment.

 

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