IRAN THREATENING US SHIPS

Seems to me this is an act of war. Bush is going to Israel. Iran is sending a very definite message. Will  we pussy out?  U.S. officials called it a serious provocation when Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, threatening to explode the American vessel.

Read the story. It sounds like the Iranians have cracked our transmission codes.

Iran boats 'threatened US ships' BBC                                 

 

Five Iranian speedboats harassed three US navy ships at the weekend, approaching them and radioing a threat to blow them up, US officials say.

The incident happened as the US vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz, which separates the Arabian peninsula and Iran, Pentagon officials said.

US sailors came close to opening fire, unnamed officials told CNN.

The White House on Monday warned Iran against "provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident".

The speedboats came within about 200m of the US vessels, a Pentagon official told the French news agency AFP.

"I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes," the Iranians said in a radio transmission, according to the officials.

The Iranian craft turned away "literally at the very moment that US forces were preparing to open fire", the Associated Press reported, also citing an unnamed Pentagon official.

How did they know? Did they crack our codes? How did they know we were about to fire? They were listening to our transmissions. How did they get our codes?

He said that it was "the most serious provocation of this sort" that had occurred to date.

The incident took place between Saturday evening and Sunday morning, reports said, although it was not clear exactly when.

Some officials identified the Iranian boats as belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

It comes amid high US-Iranian tensions over Iran's nuclear programme and as US President George Bush is due to begin a tour of the Middle East on Wednesday.

UPDATE: Military advises me of the following;

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE  
Just some background on your commentary:

1.  Iran may have broken our communications codes, but this incident does not prove that to be the case.  There are known and open (AKA "guard") frequencies for air and maritime use.  This allows for communication between vessels of all nationalities at all times.

2.  The Iranian actions could be perceived as an act of war, certainly as a provocation.  The naval vessels may well have audio and video recording of this event, and would the recordings would likely be used in any diplomatic actions that will follow.  It was just a few months ago that the Iranians captured British sailors, for use as propaganda and diplomatic advantage.  That was indeed an act of war. 

Comments

[Thomas Carney]

Pamela wrote, "How did they know? Did they crack our codes? How did they know we were about to fire? They were listening to our transmissions. How did they get our codes?"

There's nothing that indicates they were listening to our transmissions. All major seagoing vessels have standard VHF radios for hailing and unscrambled communications in addition to other things.

The US Navy would have picked up a transmission on a standard VHF maritime frequency and there are certainly enough Iranians that speak English to send that warning.

There is ZERO indication that any of our codes have been cracked.

The article notes that one captain was about to order his sailors to open fire but that WOULD NOT have been radioed, it would have been merely put on intercom.

It was coincidence that the Iranian speedboats turned away just before the captain ordered firepower.

[Jakesgramma]

Testing our response.

[Thomas Carney]

Jakesgramma: Yep. Absolutely. The ships' skippers were in a tense moment. They knew if they fired first, it would be an international situation... balance that against the safety of their crews and you have an almost untenable situation.

If the Iranians fired first, then it's easy.

I have no doubt that the skippers had their radiomen warn that if they came within X meters, they would have been fired upon, and it would have justified after a threat was radioed at them like that.

[Shy Guy]

Testing our response.

Posted by: Jakesgramma | Monday, January 07, 2008 at 02:24 PM

There was none. Test failed.

I would have expected the ships would have signalled or radioed a warning when they were still more distant to not approach any closer.

At 200 yards you can see the whites of their eyes and these are not British Redcoats.

Everything's wrong. Not only should they have pulverized them, additional air attacks should have commenced afterwards, destroying vital Iranian naval facilities, with an immediate press conference by the President or the COS telling Iran that their monkey business will leave them looking like baboons.

[songdongnigh]

It's highly unlikely the Iranians have "cracked" our codes. But if our codes or SOP were compromised, it was through spies of traitors. It was obviously a test to verify our response. What we now need is at least a one kilometer standoff zone, with no warnings. Just turn on the Phalanx and hose them. 200 yards is within range of shaped charges.

[Caratacus]

I doubt the Iranians have broken our codes. What concerns me the most is that the IRGC boats were allowed to come within 200 meters of the ships. I can assure you the boats were tracked continuously and fire control radars were more than likely locked on as soon as the boats were identified or displayed hostile intent. What concerns me is how long our response took. The rules of engagement were developed by lawyers, not warriors. It seems like an inordinate amount of time to go from warning yellow, weapons tight to warning red, weapons free and permission to fire. They should have been engaged much, much sooner. It is just inconceivable that they were allowed to get within 200 yards. I think it is time to revise the ROE especially in a chokepoint like the Straits of Hormuz.

[chsw]

200 meters is extremely close. It is close enough to hear a battery chief over an intercom giving the instructions to fire.

As far as time-to-impact, I do not think that 200 meters is eight seconds at 50 knots. I would not like to be the skipper who asks his crew to hold fire until 200 meters if there is a successful attack.

Lastly, this didn't make the front two sections of my daily paper (Westchester Journal-News, owned by Gannett).

chsw

[Thomas Carney]

What the military said in #1 confirms my observation.

Shy guy: There's an old trick from the Cold War. Try to bluff the other guy into showing capabilities and limitations... see how short a period of time it takes for the other guy to scramble. In reality, if the "other guy" is smart, he'll take his time. Reason?? The "other guy" doesn't want you to know your capabilities and limtiations.

I was in northern Greece during part of the last decade of the Cold War. We were less than 50 miles from Yugoslavia. The Yugos would buzz us once a day or so and go farther into Greece to see how long it took the Greek Air Force to scramble. The Greek AF took its time... thereby not letting the commies know how long it took to REALLY scramble.

It's no different when the Russian Bears went close to Canadian or US air space. You don't think we did the same to them??

As for radioing the Iranians, it was not mentioned in the report, but I'm willing to bet the skippers of those ships made it clear not to come any closer than X meters.

These were speedboats, not destroyers.

It's cat and mouse. The Iranians were trying to provoke an incident.

The videos and radar data speak for themselves. The dumbest thing that the Iranians could have done is fire on our ships. Then those jokers on the speedboats would be fish food.

If, let's say, one or the other fired, rest assured, as hard-pressed and stretched-thin as our military is right now, I can assure you, the DRAFT would begin. All you guys under 28, when your numbers up, you're drafted.