More Information About the US and Iranian Naval Confrontation

During the weekend of January 7^th, Five Iranian Revolutionary speed boats confronted three US warships entering the Persian Gulf at the Straits of Hormuz. The US Warships were the USS Hopper (DDG), The USS Port Royal (CG) and the USS Igraham (FF). The combined complement of the three warships is approximately 1000 sailors and officers that witnessed the event. The total complement of the Iranian speed boats was approximately 20 Iranian revolutionary guard sailors.

The US warships released the video tape of the confrontation. The Iranian quickly released their version of what they call a 'peaceful routine request for information.' There is few questions that arise from the release of both videos.

The voice on the video of the Iranian video and the voice from the US video do not match. The Iranians say this is a proof of a US fabrication trying to force an Iranian and US conflict. The United State Navy stated that the voice might have come from another source besides the Revolutionary Guard speed boats. The US navy stated that the voice is possibly the voice of a known heckler known as 'Filipino Monkey.' It is also possible that the communication came from one of the other Revolutionary Guard boats beside the one that was shown in the Iranian Video. This is a problem with clear voice communications, it is impossible to obtain a line of bearing of the communication.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard shown in the Iranian video is asking the US warship for its current course and speed. This is information that is easily obtained visually by watching the ship. Any skilled navigator watching the video can estimate the course and speed of the warships. Moreover, due to the limited navigation allowed in the Straits of Hormuz, there are only a couple of courses that ships can use when entering and leaving the Straits of Hormuz. Therefore, the Iranians already know the information they were requesting.