March 17, 2017
The Pasdaran have completely denied the Pentagon account of a confrontation between ships of the two forces March 4, with the Pasdaran painting a mirror image of the Pentagon report.
Where the Pentagon said the Pasdaran approached provocatively and forced a US Navy ship to change course, the Pasdaran said the US Navy ship approached provocatively and forced the Pasdar vessel to change course.
Where the Pentagon said the ships were as close as 600 yards (549 meters), the Pasdaran said they were as close as 550 meters.
Where the Pentagon said the Pasdaran acted “unprofession-ally,” the Pasdaran said the Americans conducted themselves “unprofessionally.”
Lt. Cmdr. Mehdi Hashemi, who commands the Pasdar ships in the Strait of Hormuz, gave his version of what happened and said the Americans were “lying.”
He said the unarmed American ship, USNS Invincible, steered out of course as it sailed in the Strait of Hormuz transit lanes and endangered the Pasdar vessels. He said the American ship acted “unprofessionally,” adding that the presence of US and British ships in the Persian Gulf “endangers the security of this strategic region” and can “lead to irreversible repercussions,” standard Pasdar rhetoric.
Last September during the presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump said if any Iranian ships harassed the US Navy, the Iranians “should be shot out of the water.” There have now been two confrontations at sea between Iran and the US since Trump took office. The Pentagon has described both incidents, but neither Trump nor the White House have said anything.
