Iranian-U.S. naval 'encounter' disturbs Pentagon advisor
Chad Groening
OneNewsNow.com
January 9, 2008

 
Pentagon advisor Bob Maginnis is concerned over the recent incident involving five Iranian gunboats and three U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
 
 

The Iranian gunboats charged the U.S. ships while dropping boxes in front of them, forcing the Americans to take evasive action. In defense, U.S. ships were preparing to fire on the gunboats, but the Iranians retreated. It is believed that the Iranian ships were under control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which concerns Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis (USA-Ret.).
 
"These are the worst of the worst there, and if in fact their aggressive behavior that we saw over this weekend is to continue as we've seen in the past -- this could be very troubling," he notes. The Pentagon advisor also points out that this was same Iranian group that took the 15 British hostages in March 2007, and that they also smuggle weapons in the area.
 
Maginnis is also concerned that the Iranians might create some real havoc in the Strait of Hormuz. "If one of these gunboats ... loaded with munitions were to go up against one of these thin-hulled oil tankers," he warns, "you could have certainly an environmental disaster, if not an economic disaster, because it would have an impact on the flow of oil through the Gulf."
 
The national defense analyst says that is why the U.S. maintains such a strong naval presence in the area.