The video on the left was released by the Pentagon, who claimed “Iranian speedboats swarmed around US warships in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday and radioed a threat to blow them up.” In response, Iranian TV broadcast the video on the right showing a clip of the incident from the Iranian point of view.
The New York Times reported today that the doubters of the legitimacy of the U.S. reports now include the Pentagon itself: “Unnamed Pentagon officials said on Wednesday that the threatening voice heard in the audio clip, which was released on Monday night with a disclaimer that it was recorded separately from the video images and merged with them later, is not directly traceable to the Iranian military. That undercuts one of the most menacing elements from the Pentagon’s assertion that Iranian forces threatened the Navy ships: The voice on the radio saying, ‘I am coming to you. … You will explode after … minutes.'”
UK’s Telegraph noted that the Iranian clip “shows no threat to US navy.”
Bush held a press conference yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert regarding the incident:
Here’s a bit from Shakespeare’s Sister on Bush’s dramatic pauses. So what’s this incident all about?
Iran Accuses U.S. of Faking Persian Gulf Video [nyt]
Degrees of Confidence on U.S.-Iran Naval Incident [the lede]
Iran airs own video of US ship incident [afp]
