Iran Airs its Version of Encounter With U.S. Ships

by Rob Walker | January 10, 2008 at 12:00 pm

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Iran has released its own version of the events that were alleged to have occurred in the strait of hormuz between Iranian and US ships three days ago.

The two countries have given wildly different accounts of what happened that day.

The version released by Iran can be found at liveleak.

The shaky five-minute video aired on Iran's Press TV -- widely viewed as the mouthpiece for Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps -- and was posted on Press TV's Web site.

U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Sunday's incident in the Strait of Hormuz "almost involved an exchange of fire between our forces and Iranian forces." Iran maintains that it was a routine communication and accuses the United States of exaggerating the incident for political purposes.

The Iranian video is shot from a watercraft that does not appear to be moving. For the first 2½ minutes, the camera zooms in on what appears to be three U.S. coalition warships, some distance away, and a helicopter flying above the vessels.

And the US presented its own account (video link here):

The U.S. Navy released dramatic video and audio of this weekend's stand-off with Iran. The video shows Iranian speedboats swarming around three American warships going through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.

At the chilling culmination of the tape, a voice can be heard over the radio, apparently from the Iranians, saying, "I am coming at you. You will explode after a few minutes."