After telling the world that Iran was provocatively pursuing American warships in international waters, the Pentagon is forced to backtrack:
Today, the Navy acknowledged that the verbal threat made in the tape may not have been Iranian:
“We’re saying that we cannot make a direct connection to the boats there,” said the spokesperson. “It could have come from the shore, from another ship passing by. However, it happened in the middle of all the very unusual activity, so as we assess the information and situation, we still put it in the total aggregate of what happened Sunday morning. I guess we’re not saying that it absolutely came from the boats, but we’re not saying it absolutely didn’t.”
Without definitive evidence that it was Iran who was making the provocative verbal threats, Bush nevertheless seized on the episode — just hours before he was set to depart for the Middle East — to underscore “his assertion that the Iranians are capable of acting recklessly.” “We viewed it as a provocative act,” Bush said. Yesterday, he warned Iran, “There will be serious consequences if they attack our ships, pure and simple.”