One of speedboats seen in US video
צילום: איי פי
Iranian TV airs video of Gulf standoff
Iran airs footage of its boats, US naval ships in Persian Gulf in apparent attempt to show there was no confrontation between vessels
Iran aired video Thursday of its boats and US naval ships in the Persian Gulf in an apparent attempt to show that there was no confrontation between the vessels.
The grainy five-minute, 20-second video — without sound or narration — showed a man speaking into a handheld radio, with three US ships floating in the distance. It appeared to be shot from a small boat bobbing at least 100 yards from the American vessels.
The footage did not show any Iranian boats approaching the US ships, nor any provocation. But the short clip likely did not show Sunday's entire encounter, which US Navy officials have said lasted about 20 minutes.
It aired on state-run English-language channel Press TV, whose signal is often blocked inside Iran.
The Pentagon has released its own video of Sunday's incident, showing small Iranian boats swarming around US warships in the Strait of Hormuz.
In the recording, a man speaking in heavily accented English threatened, "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes."
The incident, which ended without any shots fired, has heightened US-Iranian tension as President Bush visits the region. Bush was in the West Bank on Thursday, and heads next to Arab Gulf nations where he is expected to discuss strategy on Iran.
Iran has denied its boats threatened the US vessels, and accused Washington of fabricating its video. The Pentagon dismissed that claim and warned its ships would respond with force if threatened.
