U.S.-Iran Confrontation in the Gulf?

CNN reports: “Five Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats ‘harassed and provoked’ three U.S. Navy ships early Sunday in international waters, the U.S. military said Monday, calling the encounter a ‘significant’ confrontation.” AP reports that: “Iran’s Foreign Ministry says weekend incident between Iranian boats and U.S. Navy ships in Gulf was ‘something normal’ and was resolved.”

The following are available for a limited number of interviews:

TRITA PARSI
Parsi is author of the new book Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States and is head of the National Iranian American Council.
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REESE ERLICH
Erlich is a foreign correspondent who has reported frequently from Iran and author of the new book The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis. He said today: “The U.S. has a long history of sailing into Iranian waters and otherwise provoking Iran. Remember on July 3, 1988, the USS Vincennes shot down an unarmed Iranian passenger plane and the U.S. tried to cover up the incident. In that context, the U.S. version of events must be carefully examined. It seems highly unlikely that Iran planned to blow up U.S. naval ships and precipitate a major incident or even war. If the U.S. attempts to make propaganda points based on the incident, it will reflect a new truculence coming out of Washington.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167