[lbo-talk] The Iranian side of the speedboat incident

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Fri Jan 11 00:47:25 PST 2008


http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/us-video-of-iran-speedboats-flawed.html

Friday, January 11, 2008 Informed Comment

US Video of Iran Speedboats Flawed Iranians Charge Fabrication

The Bush administration's assertion that 5 small Iranian boats

confronted big, well-armed US ships in the Straits of Hormuz and

threatened to blow up the American vessels is looking more and more

like a serious error if not a Republican Party fabrication.

The Iranians analyzed the Pentagon video released to the US media and

found that the audio track was not synchronized properly with the

video, pointing to serious tinkering.

And sure enough, we now know that the tape is a fabrication in the

sense that the Pentagon says the video and the audio were recorded

separately and then combined. And they can't even be sure where the

audio came from! The NYT reports,

<snip>

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards issued their own video and audio of

the encounter, which shows a routine identity check (see below).

Hamshahri reports in Persian that Sayyid Mahmoud Jazayeri said that

questioning passing ships is a completely routine activity for the

Iranian speedboats. Jazayeri accused Washington of attempting to paper

over its serious defeats in the Middle East with this gimmick.

The USG Open Source Center translates some of the transcript below.

[EMBED]

"Iran TV Says BBC, CNN Complicit in 'Falsity' of US Footage

Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 1

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Document Type: OSC Translated Text

The navy of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps aired a clip of the

Hormuz Strait incident, which proves the falsity of the claims by

American officials. In pictures aired today, the Iranian vessel only

asks a few questions from the American one. The American vessel

responds to the questions by Iran and this is a routine matter in

the activities of the patrol units in maritime territory.

(Iranian patrol in English) Coalition warship seven, three. This is

Iranian navy patrol boat Tatone - 16. Navy warship, navy warship

seven, three. This is Iranian navy patrol boat Tatone - 16. Come in,

over.

(US navy officer over radio, in English) This is Coalition Warship

seven three. Roger, over.

(IRGC officer, English) Coalition warship seven three. This is

Iranian navy patrol boat Tantoma - 16. Over.

(Passage indistinct)

(Presenter) CNN had aired a clip in which the Iranians had

surrounded the American vessel threatening that in a few minutes

time you will explode. The CNN and BBC networks aired Iranian

footage today but without the sound.

The Iranian deputy admiral of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps

said that the claims of the American officials on threats against

the American warships are totally false, because in the main reel

the military number of the Iranian person (on his uniform) speaking

is shown quite clearly.

Admiral Fadavi added that the conversation between Iranian vessels

and other passing vessels is perfectly normal, which happens over

and over again.

(Iranian TV aired parts of the video with Farsi caption on English

conversations)

(Description of Source: Tehran Vision of the Islamic Republic of

Iran Network 1 in Persian -- state-run television). "

The Iranian press is suspicious about the timing of the Pentagon

videotape, noting that it was released just as Bush was heading to the

Middle East to try to convince the Arab allies of the US to make common

cause with Israel against Iran. The Gulf monarchies in particular are

very afraid of the Iranian navy, and the Bush administration video

would have been useful for pushing the Kuwaitis, the United Arab

Emirates, and Saudi Arabia into agreeing with the Bush grand strategy

of surrounding Iran and then cutting it off.

posted by Juan Cole @ 1/11/2008 06:30:00 AM



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