Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA) A senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) dismissed Pentagon’s so-called documented footages claiming to show Iranian speedboats swarming US ships in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, describing it as a “clumsy fabrication”.
“The pictures that the Pentagon broadcast of the naval incident are file pictures and voices have all been fabricated,” the IRGC commander told FNA.
The Pentagon released a video and audio tape Tuesday that it said confirmed US charges that Iranian speedboats harassed US warships in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday.
“The voices and pictures broadcast by the Pentagon about the latest incident have been fabricated so clumsily that the pictures and voices in the video are not even synchronized,” added the source.
“That fact that it is a fake is clear to all.”
“When trafficking in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman to protect the security of the region, all IRGC’s naval vessels carry the holy flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran, but in this fake film, Americans have left this primary and crucial point unheeded,” the source further added.
The video, which the Pentagon said was taken from the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper, showed fast boats approaching the warships at high speeds and racing around the Hopper, the USS Port Royal and the USS Ingraham.
“On the verge of Bush’s already failed visit to the region, the Western media have attempted to put the US project to create fear against Iran on the agenda,” the senior IRGC commander told Fars.
Iranian officials had already dismissed the US version of the incident as anti-Iran propaganda ahead of Bush’s visit to the Middle East, saying what happened was an everyday occurrence.
IRGC officials told FNA earlier that their naval forces merely identified the US vessels before both sides went on their way without any disturbance.
Bush – who will also visit Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt – has said that during his trip, he would urge Washington’s Arab allies to pressure Iran over its nuclear program.
The Strait of Hormuz is a vital conduit for energy supplies, with about 20-25 percent of the world’s crude oil supplies passing through from Persian Gulf oil producers.
