I was watching BBC News 24 last night and caught an interview wit
h Security Correspondent, Frank Gardner, talking about the videos of the recent 'stand-off' between five patrol boats of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and three US Navy warships in the Strait of Hormuz. During the brief interview with anchor Emily Maitlis, Gardner expressed serious doubts about the authenticity of the threatening voice that can be heard on the U.S. military's video of the incident (which was attributed to a member of the Iranian naval patrol involved) and suggested that the transmission might possibly have come from another ship in the region.
The American video of the encounter, released earlier in the week, included audio of a transmission - allegedly from a crew member on board one of the advancing Iranian speedboats - which threatened the U.S. warships in a deep, sinister voice, saying: "I am coming to you. You will explode in a couple of minutes" (a sort of low-rent Arnie impersonator). According to the Pentagon, this transmission came through when the Iranian boats were operating at "distances and speeds that showed reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent" (the speedboats came within about 200m of the U.S. vessels). Not surprisingly, this led U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to call the Iranian action "provocative and dangerous" and George W. Bush to say that it was a "provocative act".
However, now that Iran has broadcast its own video on state-run television, yet more questions have been raised about this so-called confrontation. This latest video shows a member of the IRGC naval patrol communicating with "American warship 73" (the USS Port Royal) over the radio, before receiving a frosty and curt response from someone aboard this vessel who reminds him that they're operating in international waters. The differences between the two videos is no real surprise - the American video of the incident is full of menace, while the Iranian video, which has clearly been released to both counter American allegations and diffuse renewed tensions between the two countries, is somewhat benign and aims to show that these sorts of encounters are routine.
IRGC Deputy Commander in charge of Naval Forces, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, insisted that as a routine practice, IRGC naval boats "have always conducted regular patrols in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf in the past 20 years in conformity with international regulation." He also added: "Nothing new has occurred and all inspections and control of ships and warships in the Strait of Hormuz are quite normal." Indeed, the dialogue in the Iranian video was reportedly quite ordinary, repetitive and sometimes technical, with the sides agreeing to switch from channel 16 to channel 11 on their radios, for instance.
But aside from the basic differences in tone, it is the audio of the 'threat' on the American video that is now being scrutinised. Because after watching the two videos it is clear that the deep voice on the American video sounds nothing like that of the radio operator in the Iranian version. It was this topic which formed the main thrust of Frank Gardner's interview and, even though he constantly reiterated that he wasn't suggesting any fabrication on the part of the Americans, he did state quite categorically that the Iranian crew member shown communicating with the U.S. warship in Iran's video was "clearly not the same guy making the threat" in the American version.
Gardner even pondered that it might have been some joker on land with a transmitter and said to Emily Maitlis: "It honestly sounds like someone taking the mick". Interestingly, aside from his additional comment that he thought the threatening voice sounded "like a Dalek" or something from Doctor Who, he also said: "It doesn't sound like an Iranian accent...[and] I've been to Iran several times."
Keen to steer clear of any accusations of American fabrication, Gardner continued:
h Security Correspondent, Frank Gardner, talking about the videos of the recent 'stand-off' between five patrol boats of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and three US Navy warships in the Strait of Hormuz. During the brief interview with anchor Emily Maitlis, Gardner expressed serious doubts about the authenticity of the threatening voice that can be heard on the U.S. military's video of the incident (which was attributed to a member of the Iranian naval patrol involved) and suggested that the transmission might possibly have come from another ship in the region.The American video of the encounter, released earlier in the week, included audio of a transmission - allegedly from a crew member on board one of the advancing Iranian speedboats - which threatened the U.S. warships in a deep, sinister voice, saying: "I am coming to you. You will explode in a couple of minutes" (a sort of low-rent Arnie impersonator). According to the Pentagon, this transmission came through when the Iranian boats were operating at "distances and speeds that showed reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent" (the speedboats came within about 200m of the U.S. vessels). Not surprisingly, this led U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to call the Iranian action "provocative and dangerous" and George W. Bush to say that it was a "provocative act".
However, now that Iran has broadcast its own video on state-run television, yet more questions have been raised about this so-called confrontation. This latest video shows a member of the IRGC naval patrol communicating with "American warship 73" (the USS Port Royal) over the radio, before receiving a frosty and curt response from someone aboard this vessel who reminds him that they're operating in international waters. The differences between the two videos is no real surprise - the American video of the incident is full of menace, while the Iranian video, which has clearly been released to both counter American allegations and diffuse renewed tensions between the two countries, is somewhat benign and aims to show that these sorts of encounters are routine.
IRGC Deputy Commander in charge of Naval Forces, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, insisted that as a routine practice, IRGC naval boats "have always conducted regular patrols in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf in the past 20 years in conformity with international regulation." He also added: "Nothing new has occurred and all inspections and control of ships and warships in the Strait of Hormuz are quite normal." Indeed, the dialogue in the Iranian video was reportedly quite ordinary, repetitive and sometimes technical, with the sides agreeing to switch from channel 16 to channel 11 on their radios, for instance.
But aside from the basic differences in tone, it is the audio of the 'threat' on the American video that is now being scrutinised. Because after watching the two videos it is clear that the deep voice on the American video sounds nothing like that of the radio operator in the Iranian version. It was this topic which formed the main thrust of Frank Gardner's interview and, even though he constantly reiterated that he wasn't suggesting any fabrication on the part of the Americans, he did state quite categorically that the Iranian crew member shown communicating with the U.S. warship in Iran's video was "clearly not the same guy making the threat" in the American version.
Gardner even pondered that it might have been some joker on land with a transmitter and said to Emily Maitlis: "It honestly sounds like someone taking the mick". Interestingly, aside from his additional comment that he thought the threatening voice sounded "like a Dalek" or something from Doctor Who, he also said: "It doesn't sound like an Iranian accent...[and] I've been to Iran several times."
Keen to steer clear of any accusations of American fabrication, Gardner continued:
"[The Americans] may well have received that transmission on the same frequency, at the same time. And what the U.S. Navy said to me today was that we don't rule that out...that, that transmission could've come from another ship in the region. It's a very busy, congested waterway. It takes two hours for [U.S.] warships to pass through the The Strait of Hormuz from the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman into the Gulf."
So, from this interview, we have learned...
1) Gardner doesn't believe the Americans fabricated the video (though, the jury's still out on that one for me).
2) The 'threatening' voice on the American video didn't have an Iranian accent and didn't appear to be the same guy speaking on the radio in Iran's video.
3) The transmission might have come from another ship in the region.
But if there is any substance to point 3, then who sent the transmission? And why? Unfortunately, Gardner didn't offer any further insights and the interview was drawn to a close, but it certainly raises some questions. If this 'threatening' transmission on the American video came from another ship, then under which flag was this mystery ship sailing? And what exactly was the purpose of making such a threat?
For the unknown person behind the transmission to specifically threaten: "I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes", was to play on American fears that another USS Cole was potentially in the making. After all, it only took a small craft containing two suicide bombers to ram the Cole and blast a 40-foot by 40-foot hole in its hull, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39 on October 12, 2000.
For the unknown person behind the transmission to specifically threaten: "I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes", was to play on American fears that another USS Cole was potentially in the making. After all, it only took a small craft containing two suicide bombers to ram the Cole and blast a 40-foot by 40-foot hole in its hull, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39 on October 12, 2000.
With this in mind, it could be argued that the nature and wording of the threat was very carefully crafted to play on Amercan anxieties to such an extent that whoever sent the 'threatening' transmission perhaps believed that U.S. warships would open fire on the Iranian speedboats (defensively), destroying them in the process. In fact, Pentagon officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have since revealed that after the Iranian threats were issued, a U.S. captain was actually in the process of ordering sailors to open fire when the Iranian boats moved away. Such an outcome would likely have been viewed as an act of aggression by Iran and who knows how the dominoes would've fallen after that?
But why on earth would someone send such an ominous and threatening message over the radio from an exposed and relatively defenceless speed boat? Five speed boats versus three U.S. warships...let's get real!
If, indeed, there was a third party involved in this incident who sent the 'threatening' transmission - then whoever it was seemed intent on provoking some sort of military skirmish between the United States and Iran, at a time of heightened tension. As usual, it's a case of determining who would benefit from such a conflict and who would have no qualms about engineering such a conflict if it didn't materialise through a natural chain of events. I'm saying nothing, but please feel free to offer any suggestions...
If, indeed, there was a third party involved in this incident who sent the 'threatening' transmission - then whoever it was seemed intent on provoking some sort of military skirmish between the United States and Iran, at a time of heightened tension. As usual, it's a case of determining who would benefit from such a conflict and who would have no qualms about engineering such a conflict if it didn't materialise through a natural chain of events. I'm saying nothing, but please feel free to offer any suggestions...
Not too long ago, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh said: "George Bush’s and Dick Cheney’s wet dream is hitting Iran." Let's just make sure that we're not fooled by any Gulf of Tonkin-style incident, otherwise, we may as well hand Dick and George the box of Kleenex ourselves.
You can view the BBC report about the American and Iranian videos here. However, I have also put the relevant audio clips together in the video below.
You can view the BBC report about the American and Iranian videos here. However, I have also put the relevant audio clips together in the video below.
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