Iranian boats, U.S. Navy warships in standoff

BEIJING, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The United States said Monday that five Iranian boats had harassed and threatened three U.S. Navy warships in international waters in the Strait of Hormuz in an incident Tehran has played down as "something normal."

On Monday, the Pentagon confirmed the event, which was first reported by CNN, and Washington immediately warned Iran to refrain from taking "provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future."

But Iran responded by calling the incident "something normal" and said the incident has been resolved.

According the CNN report, three U.S. warships -- cruiser USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham -- were sailing into the Persian Gulf through the Hormuz Strait, a main shipping route for Gulf oil, at about 05:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) Sunday when five Iranian boats approached the U.S. vessels fleetly.

The report quoted the U.S. officials as saying that the Iranian ships in one case came within about 180 meters of a U.S. ship and dropped white boxes into the water in front of them, forcing them to shun the Iranian boats.

According to U.S. military officials, it is believed that the five Iranian vessels belong to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.

Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman said on Monday the episode lasted 15 to 20 minutes and some of the Iranian vessels were armed. But he did not specify whether the boats were from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.

The Iranian vessels operated with "reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent," Whitman said, adding that the Pentagon will work with State and National Security Council officials to determine "the appropriate way to address this with the Iranian government."

U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe issued a statement urging Iran "to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future."

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the U.S. would confront "hostile Iranian actions" against U.S. interests and those of its allies in the region.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini on Monday played down the incident, saying it was "something normal", the official IRNA news agency reported.

"It's something normal and takes place every now and then for each party, it has been resolved when the two parties identified each other," Hosseini was quoted as saying.

"The new case was similar to the past cases, it's regular and natural," he added.

Meanwhile, a Revolutionary Guards official also said "there was no unusual confrontation between Iranian patrol boats and U.S. vessels."

The Guards boats were patrolling in the Strait of Hormuz when they saw three U.S. ships there and "routinely asked the ships to identify themselves," he told state television.

"They (the U.S. ships) did so and continued their path," the Guards official added.

On Tuesday, Bush is due to kick off his visit to Israel and the Palestinian autonomous region in a bid to boost Middle East peace talks relaunched at an international conference in Annapolis, the U.S, in November.

During his nine-day visit to the Middle East, Bush will also travel to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

Bush told reporters in Washington that part of the reason for his trip to the Middle East is to warn countries in the region that a nuclear-armed Iran will be a danger to the Mideast region.

On Sunday, Iran said Bush's planned trip to the Middle East was aimed at interfering in relations among regional states.

During his weekly briefing, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said Bush's trip will be an attempt to "compensate America's failed policies" in the Middle East region and Iran has no immediate plan to normalize relations with the United States.

Last Thursday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a student group meeting in the central Iranian province of Yazd that it was not the appropriate time yet to resume diplomatic ties with the United States since it cannot "benefit" the Iranian people.

But the leader also said he was willing to improve relations with Washington at the right moment, saying: "I will be the first one to support the ties if it is beneficial to the Iranian nation."