Here's a Newsweek interview with Iranian President Ahmadinejad. The tile of the article mentions his continuing to deny the Holocaust, even though in the interview he actually acknowledges the existence of the Holocaust:
Ahmadinejad’s Nuclear Offer
The Iranian president discusses his proposal to buy enriched uranium from the United States, his continued denial of the Holocaust, and Tehran's detention of journalist Maziar Bahari.
By Lally Weymouth | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Sep 23, 2009
In an exclusive wide-ranging hour-and-a-half interview with NEWSWEEK's Lally Weymouth and editors from The Washington Post, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad discussed his upcoming talks with the United States, his opinion of President Obama, and his continued denial of the Holocaust, as well as the U.S.-led effort in Afghanistan, which he views as doomed. In it he previewed his offer to purchase enriched uranium from the United States for medicinal purposes, which proliferation experts say is likely a nonstarter. Excerpts:
As you know, Iran has been holding a NEWSWEEK correspondent for three months, Maziar Bahari. I know you have been very generous this morning saying you would help release the American hikers. On humanitarian grounds, would you consider releasing Maziar?
I would like all prisoners to be released, but I am not the judge. The judge has to decide on this. If I were in charge of this case, I would guarantee that all the prisoners would be released.
-----
But you said that you would try to get the American hikers released. Could you try to do the same for Maziar?
I want all prisoners to be released. Every one. Americans and non-Americans—it really makes no difference.
-----
When Iran is trying to restart relations with the West, why would you once again deny that there was a Holocaust when that is so easily disprovable?
Don't you think that the Holocaust is a very important issue?
-----
Yes, I think it is the greatest crime of the 20th century.
So you do agree that it is an important topic. Do you believe that the Holocaust still carries through to this day in terms of its effects today? Could you explain to me how it affects issues today?
----
It does not matter what I think. It matters what you think, Mr. President.
I understand, but I would like for us to exchange our views so as to resolve an issue here.
-----
The world wants to know what you think.
Who is the world here?
-----
Iran is trying to improve its relationship with the West, as I understand it. It is clear that there was a Holocaust. Why would you say there was no Holocaust? Do you feel there should be no Jewish state—no Israel?
What I am saying is extremely clear. It is an academic approach to a crucial subject and also one based on humanitarian considerations. What I am saying here is that in past history many events have happened, and in World War II many crimes were committed. Over 60 million people were killed and even more were displaced. So we have several specific questions with regard to the events of World War II, and I believe we cannot find the answers to these questions through the propaganda that is promoted by the media. In the end, the questions need convincing answers. The first question that I have to try and understand is why in the midst of all that happened in World War II, the Holocaust is emphasized more than any other [event]?
-----
Let's say that Stalin's crimes were equally great.
The second question is why do Western politicians focus on this issue so much? The third question is how does that event connect with issues that we see around us in the world today? Was this a historical event that happened in isolation without impacting the present conditions? The next question we should ask ourselves is if the event did take place, where did it happen, who were the perpetrators, what was the role of the Palestinian people? What crime have they committed to deserve what they have received as a result? Why exactly should the Palestinian people be victimized? Are you aware that over 5 million Palestinians have been displaced and have had refugee status? What role did they play in the Holocaust? Why is the Holocaust used as a pretext to occupy the land of other people? Why should the Palestinian people give their lives up for it? You are probably aware that there have been embargoes on the people of Gaza.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/216040
Edited By Greg on 1253752152
Next stop: Iran
Here's a two-year-old video of Scott Ritter talking about Iran:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XctgkYj5aVk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XctgkYj5aVk
Putin warns against Iran attack
Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful civilian purposes
Russian PM Vladimir Putin has warned against military action targeting Iran or imposing new sanctions to curb its nuclear programme.
Iran's latest proposals on its nuclear ambitions have brought diverging views from the US and Russia.
Earlier, a US official told the BBC that Washington was unhappy with the proposals, submitted on Wednesday.
Correspondents say parties involved are making their positions clear ahead of the UN General Assembly this month.
President Barack Obama has given Tehran until the end of September to respond to his friendlier overtures or face new sanctions.
But the US and Israel have never ruled out the option of air strikes on Iran to stop it acquiring an atomic weapon.
In contrast to Washington's negative response on Iran's new proposal, Russia's foreign minister described them as a positive step forward and ruled out sanctions on Iran's oil sector.
Terror warning
Mr Putin, speaking in Moscow, said any attack on Iran would be "very dangerous, unacceptable and would lead to "an explosion of terrorism".
"I doubt very much that such strikes would achieve their stated goal," he added.
However, Mr Putin called on Tehran to "show restraint" in its nuclear programme.
"This is a dangerous region and Iran should show responsibility, especially by taking into account Israel's concerns," he said.
The five-page Iranian proposal was submitted to the group of six global powers negotiating over its nuclear enrichment programme - the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany.
Mr Putin has warned Iran to show restraint in its plans
Details have been published on the website of the US non-profit investigative journalism group, ProPublica.
In it, Tehran offers to hold "comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive" negotiations on a range of security issues, including global nuclear disarmament.
But the document makes no mention of Iran's own nuclear programme.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Friday he was seeking an urgent meeting with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, after consulting the six powers.
"We are in contact with Dr Jalili's office to arrange a meeting at the earliest possible opportunity," he said in a statement.
"We are all committed to meaningful negotiations with Iran to resolve the international community's concerns about their nuclear programme."
French foreign ministry spokeswoman Christine Fages said they wanted the meeting to take place before the UN General Assembly on 23 September.
Philip Crowley, US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, earlier told the BBC's World Today programme that Iran had to prove it was ready to live up to commitments it had made.
"Our concern is that the response itself did not really address what is the core issue of the international community and the core concern, which is Iran's nuclear ambitions," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8251531.stm
Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful civilian purposes
Russian PM Vladimir Putin has warned against military action targeting Iran or imposing new sanctions to curb its nuclear programme.
Iran's latest proposals on its nuclear ambitions have brought diverging views from the US and Russia.
Earlier, a US official told the BBC that Washington was unhappy with the proposals, submitted on Wednesday.
Correspondents say parties involved are making their positions clear ahead of the UN General Assembly this month.
President Barack Obama has given Tehran until the end of September to respond to his friendlier overtures or face new sanctions.
But the US and Israel have never ruled out the option of air strikes on Iran to stop it acquiring an atomic weapon.
In contrast to Washington's negative response on Iran's new proposal, Russia's foreign minister described them as a positive step forward and ruled out sanctions on Iran's oil sector.
Terror warning
Mr Putin, speaking in Moscow, said any attack on Iran would be "very dangerous, unacceptable and would lead to "an explosion of terrorism".
"I doubt very much that such strikes would achieve their stated goal," he added.
However, Mr Putin called on Tehran to "show restraint" in its nuclear programme.
"This is a dangerous region and Iran should show responsibility, especially by taking into account Israel's concerns," he said.
The five-page Iranian proposal was submitted to the group of six global powers negotiating over its nuclear enrichment programme - the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany.
Mr Putin has warned Iran to show restraint in its plans
Details have been published on the website of the US non-profit investigative journalism group, ProPublica.
In it, Tehran offers to hold "comprehensive, all-encompassing and constructive" negotiations on a range of security issues, including global nuclear disarmament.
But the document makes no mention of Iran's own nuclear programme.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Friday he was seeking an urgent meeting with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, after consulting the six powers.
"We are in contact with Dr Jalili's office to arrange a meeting at the earliest possible opportunity," he said in a statement.
"We are all committed to meaningful negotiations with Iran to resolve the international community's concerns about their nuclear programme."
French foreign ministry spokeswoman Christine Fages said they wanted the meeting to take place before the UN General Assembly on 23 September.
Philip Crowley, US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, earlier told the BBC's World Today programme that Iran had to prove it was ready to live up to commitments it had made.
"Our concern is that the response itself did not really address what is the core issue of the international community and the core concern, which is Iran's nuclear ambitions," he said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8251531.stm
Iran defiant, but Russia against oil sanctions
Thu Sep 10, 2009 6:00pm EDT
By Hashem Kalantari
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran defied Western powers on Thursday and ruled out talks on its nuclear program, but still looked set to escape the threat of oil sanctions with Russia saying it would not back such measures at the United Nations.
Western powers are becoming frustrated by what they have called Tehran's "persistent defiance and point-blank refusal" to suspend uranium enrichment and its avoidance of negotiations as demanded by U.N. Security Council resolutions since 2006.
Instead of directly addressing those demands, Iran handed world powers on Wednesday proposals including a global system to eliminate nuclear weapons, the Washington Post reported.
Cooperation on Afghanistan, fighting terrorism, as well as collaboration on oil and gas projects were also among the proposals, the paper quoted an Iranian official as saying.
The United States said the proposals were "not really responsive to our greatest concern, which is obviously Iran's nuclear program."
Western nations suspect the Islamic Republic is secretly developing a nuclear bomb to seal its status as the big regional power in the Middle East. Iran denies the charge.
U.S. President Barack Obama has indicated Iran will face much harsher international sanctions, possibly targeting its lifeblood oil sector, if it does not accept good-faith negotiations by the end of September.
But Russia said Iran's latest proposals to world powers contained something to work with and ruled out oil sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Russia has veto power in the U.N. Security Council.
"Tehran is prepared to have fair and substantive talks about various problems, including the guarantee of access by all countries to nuclear energy and preventing the proliferation of nuclear arms," Iranian state television quoted Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, as saying.
"But these talks do not include Tehran's nuclear program and legal activities in this connection."
The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are evaluating Iran's plan and their senior diplomats are to hold a conference call to discuss it on Friday.
But White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "I would say Iran's proposals have time and again failed to live up to its international obligations."
"NO OIL SANCTIONS"
Russia, however, was more responsive.
"Based on a brief review of the Iranian papers my impression is there is something there to use," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow. . .
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSLA38110920090910
Thu Sep 10, 2009 6:00pm EDT
By Hashem Kalantari
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran defied Western powers on Thursday and ruled out talks on its nuclear program, but still looked set to escape the threat of oil sanctions with Russia saying it would not back such measures at the United Nations.
Western powers are becoming frustrated by what they have called Tehran's "persistent defiance and point-blank refusal" to suspend uranium enrichment and its avoidance of negotiations as demanded by U.N. Security Council resolutions since 2006.
Instead of directly addressing those demands, Iran handed world powers on Wednesday proposals including a global system to eliminate nuclear weapons, the Washington Post reported.
Cooperation on Afghanistan, fighting terrorism, as well as collaboration on oil and gas projects were also among the proposals, the paper quoted an Iranian official as saying.
The United States said the proposals were "not really responsive to our greatest concern, which is obviously Iran's nuclear program."
Western nations suspect the Islamic Republic is secretly developing a nuclear bomb to seal its status as the big regional power in the Middle East. Iran denies the charge.
U.S. President Barack Obama has indicated Iran will face much harsher international sanctions, possibly targeting its lifeblood oil sector, if it does not accept good-faith negotiations by the end of September.
But Russia said Iran's latest proposals to world powers contained something to work with and ruled out oil sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Russia has veto power in the U.N. Security Council.
"Tehran is prepared to have fair and substantive talks about various problems, including the guarantee of access by all countries to nuclear energy and preventing the proliferation of nuclear arms," Iranian state television quoted Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, as saying.
"But these talks do not include Tehran's nuclear program and legal activities in this connection."
The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are evaluating Iran's plan and their senior diplomats are to hold a conference call to discuss it on Friday.
But White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "I would say Iran's proposals have time and again failed to live up to its international obligations."
"NO OIL SANCTIONS"
Russia, however, was more responsive.
"Based on a brief review of the Iranian papers my impression is there is something there to use," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow. . .
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSLA38110920090910
U.S. Concerned About Iran's Nuclear Program
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 9, 2009; 12:47 PM
Iran "is now either very near or in possession" of enough low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday, offering some of the toughest remarks uttered by an Obama administration official on Iran's nuclear ambitions.
"We have serious concerns that Iran is deliberately attempting, at a minimum, to preserve a nuclear weapons option," Glyn Davies, Washington's chief envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in his inaugural speech to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, which is based in Vienna.
Davies said that Iran's ongoing enrichment activity -- in defiance of three U.N. Security Council resolutions -- "moves Iran closer to a dangerous and destabilizing possible breakout capacity."
But Davies also reiterated the Obama administration's interest in a diplomatic resolution to the impasse of Tehran's nuclear programs, and its interest in negotiating directly with Iran without preconditions. The United States, along with Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, earlier this year reiterated an offer to provide economic and security benefits in exchange for a halt to Iran's enrichment activity.
The United States and other major powers said in July that it would "take stock" of Iran's response to that offer in late September, during a U.N. General Assembly meeting. Washington has warned that it may turn to bolstering sanctions against Iran if little progress is made by year's end.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested this week that Iran would not suspend its uranium enrichment but was willing to negotiate with the other parties, inviting top officials to come to Tehran for talks.
"While we have seen press reports that Iran has a new proposal, we have not yet received any official, substantive response from our Iranian counterparts," Davies said Wednesday. "Nonetheless, we would review any proposal seriously in the spirit of mutual respect and would welcome the Iranian government's constructive response."
Tehran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told the agency that it "should be recalled that the agency has been faced with continuous false and forged allegations" by the United States.
"I remind that the international community is carefully monitoring the attitude and conducts of the new U.S. administration," Soltanieh said. "The world is observing curiously whether or not this administration follows the same trend and policy as the Bush administration -- pursuing hostile political confrontation, using fabricated baseless allegations."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn....adlines
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 9, 2009; 12:47 PM
Iran "is now either very near or in possession" of enough low-enriched uranium to produce one nuclear weapon, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday, offering some of the toughest remarks uttered by an Obama administration official on Iran's nuclear ambitions.
"We have serious concerns that Iran is deliberately attempting, at a minimum, to preserve a nuclear weapons option," Glyn Davies, Washington's chief envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in his inaugural speech to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, which is based in Vienna.
Davies said that Iran's ongoing enrichment activity -- in defiance of three U.N. Security Council resolutions -- "moves Iran closer to a dangerous and destabilizing possible breakout capacity."
But Davies also reiterated the Obama administration's interest in a diplomatic resolution to the impasse of Tehran's nuclear programs, and its interest in negotiating directly with Iran without preconditions. The United States, along with Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, earlier this year reiterated an offer to provide economic and security benefits in exchange for a halt to Iran's enrichment activity.
The United States and other major powers said in July that it would "take stock" of Iran's response to that offer in late September, during a U.N. General Assembly meeting. Washington has warned that it may turn to bolstering sanctions against Iran if little progress is made by year's end.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested this week that Iran would not suspend its uranium enrichment but was willing to negotiate with the other parties, inviting top officials to come to Tehran for talks.
"While we have seen press reports that Iran has a new proposal, we have not yet received any official, substantive response from our Iranian counterparts," Davies said Wednesday. "Nonetheless, we would review any proposal seriously in the spirit of mutual respect and would welcome the Iranian government's constructive response."
Tehran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told the agency that it "should be recalled that the agency has been faced with continuous false and forged allegations" by the United States.
"I remind that the international community is carefully monitoring the attitude and conducts of the new U.S. administration," Soltanieh said. "The world is observing curiously whether or not this administration follows the same trend and policy as the Bush administration -- pursuing hostile political confrontation, using fabricated baseless allegations."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn....adlines
I sure hope the real big stimulus package from Obama won't be war with Iran:
AP NewsBreak: Iran says US nuke documents 'forged'
By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer William J. Kole
VIENNA – Iran accused the U.S. on Friday of using "forged documents" and relying on subterfuge to make its case that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, according to a confidential letter obtained by The Associated Press.
The eight-page letter — written by Iran's chief envoy to the U.N. nuclear agency in Vienna — denounces Washington's allegations against the Islamic Republic as "fabricated, baseless and false." The letter does not specify what documents Iran is alleging were forged.
It also lashes out at Britain and France for "ill will and political motivation" in their dealings on Iran.
Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh sent the letter to Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose 35-nation board will take a hard new look at Iran's nuclear program next week.
Iran insists its nuclear activities are peaceful and geared solely toward generating electricity. The U.S. and key allies contend the Islamic Republic is covertly trying to build an atomic bomb.
Tehran has bristled at the agency's latest report, which accuses Iran of defiantly continuing to enrich uranium and refusing to clear up lingering questions about possible military dimensions to its nuclear program.
In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the AP, Soltanieh insists that Iran has demonstrated "the full commitment of my country to its obligations" under an IAEA nuclear safeguards agreement.
But it takes sharp aim at Washington for giving the U.N. nuclear watchdog unspecified intelligence and other evidence allegedly recovered from a laptop computer that reportedly was smuggled out of Iran.
U.S. intelligence later assessed the information as indicating that Tehran had been working on details of nuclear weapons, including missile trajectories and ideal altitudes for exploding warheads.
The material on the laptop also included videos of what intelligence officials believe were secret nuclear laboratories in Iran.
"By interfering in the work of the IAEA and exerting various political pressures, the government of the United States attempted to spoil the cooperative spirit between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the IAEA," the letter reads.
"The government of the United States has not handed over original documents to the agency since it does not in fact have any authenticated document and all it has are forged documents," Soltanieh said.
"The agency didn't deliver any original documents to Iran and none of the documents and materials that were shown to Iran have authenticity and all proved to be fabricated, baseless allegations and false attributions to Iran," he added.
"Therefore, this subject must be closed," Soltanieh wrote.
U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment late Friday. Officials at the French Foreign Ministry would not immediately comment.
A spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office denied the allegations in Soltanieh's letter.
She said Britain had consistently sought a way to "give diplomacy a chance to succeed."
"I would deny any suggestion of ill-will in the strongest possible terms," she said, speaking anonymously in line with department policy. "We would have no hesitation in saying that absolutely the reverse is true."
The IAEA itself has pressed the U.S. and other governments to share more details on Iran-related intelligence. In its latest report on Iran, the U.N. agency noted that "constraints placed by some member states on the availability of information to Iran are making it more difficult for the agency to conduct detailed discussions with Iran."
In a brief telephone interview Friday evening, Soltanieh told the AP he hoped the letter would pressure the U.S. to fully divulge the source of any intelligence implicating Iran.
"We are the victims of negligence, because people still don't know what this is all about," he said.
The nuclear agency's latest assessment did acknowledge that Iran has been producing nuclear fuel at a slower rate and has allowed U.N. inspectors broader access to its main nuclear complex in the southern city of Natanz and to a reactor in Arak.
But it cautions that there are "a number of outstanding issues which give rise to concerns and which need to be clarified to exclude the existence of possible military dimensions."
The report, to be examined next week, has raised the specter of harsher international sanctions against Iran for not answering lingering questions about its nuclear activities.
Senior U.N. officials have said Iran has been feeding uranium ore into some of its 8,300 centrifuges at a reduced rate, suggesting that sanctions already in place may be hampering its program.
As of Aug. 12, only about 4,600 of those centrifuges were actively enriching uranium, compared with about 4,900 in June — the last time the nuclear agency issued a report on Iran's nuclear activities — officials said. Since then, they said, Iran has installed roughly 1,000 more centrifuges, but it appeared that many were idle.
Soltanieh's letter contends the overall assessment on Iran is positive. But he says concerns raised by the U.S. and others have "totally overshadowed and undermined" the steps that Iran has taken to comply with IAEA demands for transparency.
President Barack Obama has given Iran something of an ultimatum: Stop enriching uranium — which, if done at a high level, can produce fissile material for the core of a nuclear weapon — or face harsher penalties. In exchange for stopping, it could get trade benefits from six countries that have been engaging it in separate talks: the U.S., Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran three times since 2006 for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment. The sanctions grew from fears that Iran is using the pretext of building a peaceful nuclear energy program to eventually make weapons-grade enriched uranium.
The country has also been placed on an international watch list to help limit the importation of nuclear materials, which could make it difficult to procure enough uranium oxide to feed its enrichment program.
Associated Press Writer Raphael G. Satter in London contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s....cy_iran
AP NewsBreak: Iran says US nuke documents 'forged'
By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer William J. Kole
VIENNA – Iran accused the U.S. on Friday of using "forged documents" and relying on subterfuge to make its case that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, according to a confidential letter obtained by The Associated Press.
The eight-page letter — written by Iran's chief envoy to the U.N. nuclear agency in Vienna — denounces Washington's allegations against the Islamic Republic as "fabricated, baseless and false." The letter does not specify what documents Iran is alleging were forged.
It also lashes out at Britain and France for "ill will and political motivation" in their dealings on Iran.
Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh sent the letter to Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose 35-nation board will take a hard new look at Iran's nuclear program next week.
Iran insists its nuclear activities are peaceful and geared solely toward generating electricity. The U.S. and key allies contend the Islamic Republic is covertly trying to build an atomic bomb.
Tehran has bristled at the agency's latest report, which accuses Iran of defiantly continuing to enrich uranium and refusing to clear up lingering questions about possible military dimensions to its nuclear program.
In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the AP, Soltanieh insists that Iran has demonstrated "the full commitment of my country to its obligations" under an IAEA nuclear safeguards agreement.
But it takes sharp aim at Washington for giving the U.N. nuclear watchdog unspecified intelligence and other evidence allegedly recovered from a laptop computer that reportedly was smuggled out of Iran.
U.S. intelligence later assessed the information as indicating that Tehran had been working on details of nuclear weapons, including missile trajectories and ideal altitudes for exploding warheads.
The material on the laptop also included videos of what intelligence officials believe were secret nuclear laboratories in Iran.
"By interfering in the work of the IAEA and exerting various political pressures, the government of the United States attempted to spoil the cooperative spirit between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the IAEA," the letter reads.
"The government of the United States has not handed over original documents to the agency since it does not in fact have any authenticated document and all it has are forged documents," Soltanieh said.
"The agency didn't deliver any original documents to Iran and none of the documents and materials that were shown to Iran have authenticity and all proved to be fabricated, baseless allegations and false attributions to Iran," he added.
"Therefore, this subject must be closed," Soltanieh wrote.
U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment late Friday. Officials at the French Foreign Ministry would not immediately comment.
A spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office denied the allegations in Soltanieh's letter.
She said Britain had consistently sought a way to "give diplomacy a chance to succeed."
"I would deny any suggestion of ill-will in the strongest possible terms," she said, speaking anonymously in line with department policy. "We would have no hesitation in saying that absolutely the reverse is true."
The IAEA itself has pressed the U.S. and other governments to share more details on Iran-related intelligence. In its latest report on Iran, the U.N. agency noted that "constraints placed by some member states on the availability of information to Iran are making it more difficult for the agency to conduct detailed discussions with Iran."
In a brief telephone interview Friday evening, Soltanieh told the AP he hoped the letter would pressure the U.S. to fully divulge the source of any intelligence implicating Iran.
"We are the victims of negligence, because people still don't know what this is all about," he said.
The nuclear agency's latest assessment did acknowledge that Iran has been producing nuclear fuel at a slower rate and has allowed U.N. inspectors broader access to its main nuclear complex in the southern city of Natanz and to a reactor in Arak.
But it cautions that there are "a number of outstanding issues which give rise to concerns and which need to be clarified to exclude the existence of possible military dimensions."
The report, to be examined next week, has raised the specter of harsher international sanctions against Iran for not answering lingering questions about its nuclear activities.
Senior U.N. officials have said Iran has been feeding uranium ore into some of its 8,300 centrifuges at a reduced rate, suggesting that sanctions already in place may be hampering its program.
As of Aug. 12, only about 4,600 of those centrifuges were actively enriching uranium, compared with about 4,900 in June — the last time the nuclear agency issued a report on Iran's nuclear activities — officials said. Since then, they said, Iran has installed roughly 1,000 more centrifuges, but it appeared that many were idle.
Soltanieh's letter contends the overall assessment on Iran is positive. But he says concerns raised by the U.S. and others have "totally overshadowed and undermined" the steps that Iran has taken to comply with IAEA demands for transparency.
President Barack Obama has given Iran something of an ultimatum: Stop enriching uranium — which, if done at a high level, can produce fissile material for the core of a nuclear weapon — or face harsher penalties. In exchange for stopping, it could get trade benefits from six countries that have been engaging it in separate talks: the U.S., Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran three times since 2006 for its refusal to freeze uranium enrichment. The sanctions grew from fears that Iran is using the pretext of building a peaceful nuclear energy program to eventually make weapons-grade enriched uranium.
The country has also been placed on an international watch list to help limit the importation of nuclear materials, which could make it difficult to procure enough uranium oxide to feed its enrichment program.
Associated Press Writer Raphael G. Satter in London contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s....cy_iran
Here's one instance where Obama appears dangerously similar to Dubya:
Report shows Iran expands nuclear program: White House
Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:17pm EDT
OAK BLUFFS, Massachusetts (Reuters) - The latest report on Iran's nuclear activities by the International Atomic Energy Agency shows Tehran continues to defy the international community and expand its nuclear program, an Obama administration official said on Friday.
"It demonstrates that Iran continues to expand its nuclear program and continues to deny the IAEA full cooperation," said the official. He termed steps Iran has taken "overdue" and "limited" and said they fell short of requirements included in international resolutions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSWBT013102
Report shows Iran expands nuclear program: White House
Fri Aug 28, 2009 3:17pm EDT
OAK BLUFFS, Massachusetts (Reuters) - The latest report on Iran's nuclear activities by the International Atomic Energy Agency shows Tehran continues to defy the international community and expand its nuclear program, an Obama administration official said on Friday.
"It demonstrates that Iran continues to expand its nuclear program and continues to deny the IAEA full cooperation," said the official. He termed steps Iran has taken "overdue" and "limited" and said they fell short of requirements included in international resolutions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSWBT013102
Thought it was time for this thread to be resurrected.
You know, if American troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and then, sometime this fall, American troops are forced to deal with the threat presented by Iran's nuclear program, it would not make sense for the next U.S. President to be a 47 year old with no military experience (and with Hussein as his middle name and whose last name is just one letter from "Osama"). We need a more mature man who was once an officer and pilot in the U.S. Navy.
Right gang?
=======
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration has launched a "significant escalation" of covert operations in Iran, sending U.S. commandos to spy on the country's nuclear facilities and undermine the Islamic republic's government, journalist Seymour Hersh said Sunday.
An Iranian flag flies outside the building containing the reactor of Bushehr nuclear power plant, south of Tehran.
White House, CIA and State Department officials declined comment on Hersh's report, which appears in this week's issue of The New Yorker.
Hersh told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" that Congress has authorized up to $400 million to fund the secret campaign, which involves U.S. special operations troops and Iranian dissidents.
President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have rejected findings from U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran has halted a clandestine effort to build a nuclear bomb and "do not want to leave Iran in place with a nuclear program," Hersh said.
"They believe that their mission is to make sure that before they get out of office next year, either Iran is attacked or it stops its weapons program," Hersh said.
The new article, "Preparing the Battlefield," is the latest in a series of articles accusing the Bush administration of preparing for war with Iran.
He based the report on accounts from current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. Watch Hersh discuss what he says are the administration's plans for Iran
"As usual with his quarterly pieces, we'll decline to comment," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told CNN.
ElBaradei warns against strike on Iran
Official: Israeli air exercise a message to Iran
Messages conflict over tighter Iran sanctions
"The CIA, as a rule, does not comment on allegations regarding covert operations," CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said.
Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, denied U.S. raids were being launched from Iraq, where American commanders believe Iran is stoking sectarian warfare and fomenting attacks on U.S. troops.
"I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran, in the south or anywhere else," Crocker said.
Hersh said U.S. efforts were staged from Afghanistan, which also shares a border with Iran.
He said the program resulted in "a dramatic increase in kinetic events and chaos" inside Iran, including attacks by Kurdish separatists in the country's north and a May attack on a mosque in Shiraz that killed 13 people.
The United States has said it is trying to isolate Iran diplomatically in order to get it to come clean about its nuclear ambitions. But Bush has said "all options" are open in dealing with the issue.
Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed at providing civilian electric power, and refuses to comply with U.N. Security Council demands that it halt uranium enrichment work.
U.N. nuclear inspectors say Tehran held back critical information that could determine whether it is trying to make nuclear weapons.
Israel, which is believed to have its own nuclear arsenal, conducted a military exercise in the eastern Mediterranean in early June involving dozens of warplanes and aerial tankers.
The distance involved in the exercise was roughly the same as would be involved in a possible strike on the Iranian nuclear fuel plant at Natanz, Iran, a U.S. military official said.
In 1981, Israeli warplanes destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor.
Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned other countries against moves that would "cost them heavily." In comments that appeared in the semi-official Mehr news agency Sunday, an Iranian general said his troops were digging more than 320,000 graves to bury troops from any invading force with "the respect they deserve."
"Under the law of war and armed conflict, necessary preparations must be made for the burial of soldiers of aggressor nations," said Maj. Gen. Mirfaisal Baqerzadeh, an Iranian officer in charge of identifying soldiers missing in action.
Journalist Shirzad Bozorghmehr in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
Edited By kaytodd on 1214795281
You know, if American troops are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and then, sometime this fall, American troops are forced to deal with the threat presented by Iran's nuclear program, it would not make sense for the next U.S. President to be a 47 year old with no military experience (and with Hussein as his middle name and whose last name is just one letter from "Osama"). We need a more mature man who was once an officer and pilot in the U.S. Navy.
Right gang?
=======
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration has launched a "significant escalation" of covert operations in Iran, sending U.S. commandos to spy on the country's nuclear facilities and undermine the Islamic republic's government, journalist Seymour Hersh said Sunday.
An Iranian flag flies outside the building containing the reactor of Bushehr nuclear power plant, south of Tehran.
White House, CIA and State Department officials declined comment on Hersh's report, which appears in this week's issue of The New Yorker.
Hersh told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" that Congress has authorized up to $400 million to fund the secret campaign, which involves U.S. special operations troops and Iranian dissidents.
President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have rejected findings from U.S. intelligence agencies that Iran has halted a clandestine effort to build a nuclear bomb and "do not want to leave Iran in place with a nuclear program," Hersh said.
"They believe that their mission is to make sure that before they get out of office next year, either Iran is attacked or it stops its weapons program," Hersh said.
The new article, "Preparing the Battlefield," is the latest in a series of articles accusing the Bush administration of preparing for war with Iran.
He based the report on accounts from current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. Watch Hersh discuss what he says are the administration's plans for Iran
"As usual with his quarterly pieces, we'll decline to comment," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told CNN.
ElBaradei warns against strike on Iran
Official: Israeli air exercise a message to Iran
Messages conflict over tighter Iran sanctions
"The CIA, as a rule, does not comment on allegations regarding covert operations," CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said.
Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad, denied U.S. raids were being launched from Iraq, where American commanders believe Iran is stoking sectarian warfare and fomenting attacks on U.S. troops.
"I can tell you flatly that U.S. forces are not operating across the Iraqi border into Iran, in the south or anywhere else," Crocker said.
Hersh said U.S. efforts were staged from Afghanistan, which also shares a border with Iran.
He said the program resulted in "a dramatic increase in kinetic events and chaos" inside Iran, including attacks by Kurdish separatists in the country's north and a May attack on a mosque in Shiraz that killed 13 people.
The United States has said it is trying to isolate Iran diplomatically in order to get it to come clean about its nuclear ambitions. But Bush has said "all options" are open in dealing with the issue.
Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed at providing civilian electric power, and refuses to comply with U.N. Security Council demands that it halt uranium enrichment work.
U.N. nuclear inspectors say Tehran held back critical information that could determine whether it is trying to make nuclear weapons.
Israel, which is believed to have its own nuclear arsenal, conducted a military exercise in the eastern Mediterranean in early June involving dozens of warplanes and aerial tankers.
The distance involved in the exercise was roughly the same as would be involved in a possible strike on the Iranian nuclear fuel plant at Natanz, Iran, a U.S. military official said.
In 1981, Israeli warplanes destroyed an Iraqi nuclear reactor.
Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned other countries against moves that would "cost them heavily." In comments that appeared in the semi-official Mehr news agency Sunday, an Iranian general said his troops were digging more than 320,000 graves to bury troops from any invading force with "the respect they deserve."
"Under the law of war and armed conflict, necessary preparations must be made for the burial of soldiers of aggressor nations," said Maj. Gen. Mirfaisal Baqerzadeh, an Iranian officer in charge of identifying soldiers missing in action.
Journalist Shirzad Bozorghmehr in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
Edited By kaytodd on 1214795281
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living. Oliver Wendell Holmes
Now they think the voice threatening an attack on the U.S. ships was a prankster who calls himself "Filipino Monkey."
Gulf prankster possible message source
CAIRO, Egypt - A threatening radio message at the end of a video showing Iranian patrol boats swarming near U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf may have come from a prankster rather than from the Iranian vessels, the Navy Times newspaper has reported.
A video and audio of the Jan. 6 incident in the Strait of Hormuz featured a man in accented English saying "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes."
Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, said the Navy was still trying to determine the source of the transmission but believed it was related to the Iranian actions.
"The Iranian boats were coming close to the ships, making aggressive maneuvers and objects were being dropped into the water," she told The Associated Press.
However, the Navy Times, a weekly newspaper published by the Gannett company, quoted several veteran sailors as speculating the transmission could have come from a radio heckler, widely known among mariners by the ethnically insulting term "the Filipino Monkey."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080114/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_us_navy
Gulf prankster possible message source
CAIRO, Egypt - A threatening radio message at the end of a video showing Iranian patrol boats swarming near U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf may have come from a prankster rather than from the Iranian vessels, the Navy Times newspaper has reported.
A video and audio of the Jan. 6 incident in the Strait of Hormuz featured a man in accented English saying "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes."
Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, said the Navy was still trying to determine the source of the transmission but believed it was related to the Iranian actions.
"The Iranian boats were coming close to the ships, making aggressive maneuvers and objects were being dropped into the water," she told The Associated Press.
However, the Navy Times, a weekly newspaper published by the Gannett company, quoted several veteran sailors as speculating the transmission could have come from a radio heckler, widely known among mariners by the ethnically insulting term "the Filipino Monkey."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080114/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_us_navy
-
Sonic Youth
- Tenured Laureate
- Posts: 8007
- Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:35 pm
- Location: USA
The U.S. and the Iranians now have competing videos over who said what.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pAKjr6iH6EU
http://youtube.com/watch?v=pAKjr6iH6EU
Bush warns Iran after naval incident
Iran claims footage of boats confronting U.S. ships was 'fabricated'
JERUSALEM - President Bush warned Iran on Wednesday of "serious consequences" if it attacked U.S. ships in the Gulf.
"My advice to them is don't do it," Bush said at news conference in Israel.
Bush's warning came days after Washington said Iranian boats aggressively approached three U.S. Naval ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route off Iran's coast, and threatened that the ships would explode.
"We have made it clear publicly and they know our position, and that is there will be serious consequences if they attack our ships, pure and simple," Bush said.
Iran called video and audio released by the Pentagon showing Iranian Revolutionary Guards boats confronting the warships as "fabricated," a state-run television station reported.
"The footage released by the U.S. Navy was compiled using file pictures and the audio has been fabricated," the English-language channel Press TV quoted an official in the Revolutionary Guards as saying.
The report did not give the name of the Revolutionary Guard figure and did not offer more details about how the official knew the footage was "fabricated."
The Pentagon on Tuesday released a four-minute, 20-second video that included audio showing small Iranian boats swarming around U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. In the recording, a man speaking in heavily accented English threatened, "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes."
The Iranian boats appeared to ignore repeated warnings from the U.S. ships, including horn blasts and radio transmissions, according to the video, which was shot from the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper.
From the Hopper, after spotting the approaching Iranian boats, a U.S. Navy crew member says over the radio: "This is coalition warship. I am engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law. Intend no harm."
Bush blasts 'provocative act'
President Bush on Tuesday denounced the incident as a "provocative act."
The audio and video recordings were made separately but were pulled together by the Navy. Often uneven and shaky, the video condenses what Navy officials have said was a 20-minute or so clash.
The top Navy commander in the Gulf has said the Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up the Navy convoy as it passed near but outside Iranian waters on Sunday. The Iranian fleet "maneuvered aggressively" and then fled as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff said. No shots were fired.
In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry has suggested that the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. Spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini played down the incident.
"That is something normal that takes place every now and then for each party," he told the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
On Wednesday, Iran's Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar reiterated that the incident was not unusual.
"The identification of vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian Navy units is a natural occurrence," IRNA quoted Najjar as saying. "Islamic Republic of Iran Navy units always put questions to passing vessels and warships at the Strait of Hormuz and they need to identify themselves. This is in accordance with the normal procedures."
Najjar called Western news reports that the boats threatened to blow up the U.S. warships as "mischief."
"(Iranian) Navy units ... asked them to identify themselves. They responded accordingly and continued their path," IRNA quoted Najjar as saying.
During a White House news conference, Bush called the situation "dangerous."
"They should not have done it, pure and simple," he said. "I don't know what their thinking was, but I'm telling you what my thinking was. I think it was a provocative act."
Cosgriff also has disputed Iran's claims that the incident was a routine encounter, saying Iran's "provocative" actions were "deadly serious" to the U.S. military.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22569823/
Iran claims footage of boats confronting U.S. ships was 'fabricated'
JERUSALEM - President Bush warned Iran on Wednesday of "serious consequences" if it attacked U.S. ships in the Gulf.
"My advice to them is don't do it," Bush said at news conference in Israel.
Bush's warning came days after Washington said Iranian boats aggressively approached three U.S. Naval ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route off Iran's coast, and threatened that the ships would explode.
"We have made it clear publicly and they know our position, and that is there will be serious consequences if they attack our ships, pure and simple," Bush said.
Iran called video and audio released by the Pentagon showing Iranian Revolutionary Guards boats confronting the warships as "fabricated," a state-run television station reported.
"The footage released by the U.S. Navy was compiled using file pictures and the audio has been fabricated," the English-language channel Press TV quoted an official in the Revolutionary Guards as saying.
The report did not give the name of the Revolutionary Guard figure and did not offer more details about how the official knew the footage was "fabricated."
The Pentagon on Tuesday released a four-minute, 20-second video that included audio showing small Iranian boats swarming around U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf. In the recording, a man speaking in heavily accented English threatened, "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes."
The Iranian boats appeared to ignore repeated warnings from the U.S. ships, including horn blasts and radio transmissions, according to the video, which was shot from the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper.
From the Hopper, after spotting the approaching Iranian boats, a U.S. Navy crew member says over the radio: "This is coalition warship. I am engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law. Intend no harm."
Bush blasts 'provocative act'
President Bush on Tuesday denounced the incident as a "provocative act."
The audio and video recordings were made separately but were pulled together by the Navy. Often uneven and shaky, the video condenses what Navy officials have said was a 20-minute or so clash.
The top Navy commander in the Gulf has said the Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up the Navy convoy as it passed near but outside Iranian waters on Sunday. The Iranian fleet "maneuvered aggressively" and then fled as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff said. No shots were fired.
In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry has suggested that the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. Spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini played down the incident.
"That is something normal that takes place every now and then for each party," he told the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
On Wednesday, Iran's Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar reiterated that the incident was not unusual.
"The identification of vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian Navy units is a natural occurrence," IRNA quoted Najjar as saying. "Islamic Republic of Iran Navy units always put questions to passing vessels and warships at the Strait of Hormuz and they need to identify themselves. This is in accordance with the normal procedures."
Najjar called Western news reports that the boats threatened to blow up the U.S. warships as "mischief."
"(Iranian) Navy units ... asked them to identify themselves. They responded accordingly and continued their path," IRNA quoted Najjar as saying.
During a White House news conference, Bush called the situation "dangerous."
"They should not have done it, pure and simple," he said. "I don't know what their thinking was, but I'm telling you what my thinking was. I think it was a provocative act."
Cosgriff also has disputed Iran's claims that the incident was a routine encounter, saying Iran's "provocative" actions were "deadly serious" to the U.S. military.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22569823/
Thanks for bringing it up Greg.
BBC NEWS
January 7th, 2008
Iran boats 'threatened US ships'
Five Iranian speedboats harassed three US navy ships at the weekend, approaching them and radioing a threat to blow them up, US officials say.
The incident happened in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route. The US said their ships were about to open fire when the Iranian boats withdrew.
The White House warned Iran against "provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future".
Iran played down the event, describing it as an "ordinary occurrence".
"This... happens for the two sides every once in a while and, after the identification of the two sides, the issue is resolved," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.
Official media also reported the US statement about Iran's allegedly threatening behaviour with scepticism, implying that Washington was exaggerating the incident.
'Serious provocation'
The speedboats, believed to belong to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, came within about 200m of the US vessels, Pentagon officials said.
"I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes," the Iranians said in a radio transmission, according to US officials.
Map showing Strait of Hormuz, with satellite photo
The Iranian boats were operating at "distances and speeds that showed reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
He said at least some of the boats were visibly armed.
US sailors assumed battle stations and the captain on one of the ships was about to order an attack when the Iranian boats turned away, dropping unidentified objects in the path of the vessel, US officials said.
The confrontation, which occurred at about 0400 local time on Sunday or late on Saturday in Washington, lasted about 20 minutes, according to the US.
The Pentagon has insisted that the three US vessels - identified as navy cruiser USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham - were in international waters.
The incident follows a row that erupted last March when Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured 15 British sailors and held them for nearly two weeks.
Iran said the crew had strayed into Iranian waters, a claim which Britain disputed.
The Revolutionary Guards, set up in 1979 to defend the country's Islamic system, has been designated by the US as a "proliferator of weapons of mass destruction".
Ready to respond
The latest confrontation comes as US President George Bush is to begin a tour of the Middle East on Wednesday.
Long-standing US-Iranian tensions remain over Iran's nuclear programme, although these have been somewhat reduced since the US intelligence community released a report in late 2007 that said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.
The BBC's Paul Reynolds says the key question is whether this is a one-off incident or whether it heralds a more aggressive stance by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The latter policy would be unexpected, given the lowering of tension over the nuclear issue, he says, but as the incident of the captured British naval personnel showed, tensions are always high.
There is no doubt that the US is ready to respond, our correspondent adds.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7175325.stm
BBC NEWS
January 7th, 2008
Iran boats 'threatened US ships'
Five Iranian speedboats harassed three US navy ships at the weekend, approaching them and radioing a threat to blow them up, US officials say.
The incident happened in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route. The US said their ships were about to open fire when the Iranian boats withdrew.
The White House warned Iran against "provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future".
Iran played down the event, describing it as an "ordinary occurrence".
"This... happens for the two sides every once in a while and, after the identification of the two sides, the issue is resolved," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said.
Official media also reported the US statement about Iran's allegedly threatening behaviour with scepticism, implying that Washington was exaggerating the incident.
'Serious provocation'
The speedboats, believed to belong to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, came within about 200m of the US vessels, Pentagon officials said.
"I am coming at you. You will explode in a couple of minutes," the Iranians said in a radio transmission, according to US officials.
Map showing Strait of Hormuz, with satellite photo
The Iranian boats were operating at "distances and speeds that showed reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
He said at least some of the boats were visibly armed.
US sailors assumed battle stations and the captain on one of the ships was about to order an attack when the Iranian boats turned away, dropping unidentified objects in the path of the vessel, US officials said.
The confrontation, which occurred at about 0400 local time on Sunday or late on Saturday in Washington, lasted about 20 minutes, according to the US.
The Pentagon has insisted that the three US vessels - identified as navy cruiser USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham - were in international waters.
The incident follows a row that erupted last March when Iranian Revolutionary Guards captured 15 British sailors and held them for nearly two weeks.
Iran said the crew had strayed into Iranian waters, a claim which Britain disputed.
The Revolutionary Guards, set up in 1979 to defend the country's Islamic system, has been designated by the US as a "proliferator of weapons of mass destruction".
Ready to respond
The latest confrontation comes as US President George Bush is to begin a tour of the Middle East on Wednesday.
Long-standing US-Iranian tensions remain over Iran's nuclear programme, although these have been somewhat reduced since the US intelligence community released a report in late 2007 that said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.
The BBC's Paul Reynolds says the key question is whether this is a one-off incident or whether it heralds a more aggressive stance by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The latter policy would be unexpected, given the lowering of tension over the nuclear issue, he says, but as the incident of the captured British naval personnel showed, tensions are always high.
There is no doubt that the US is ready to respond, our correspondent adds.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7175325.stm