Gun-toting Iranians, Navy boats, harass U.S. Ships - Obama administration says 'No big deal'

Iranian Navy speed boats harassed two U.S. ships earlier this month, and ignored repeated calls to back off, according to U.S. military officials.

Both incidents occurred on the same day - January 6.

In the first incident, the USS New Orleans, a U.S. Navy amphibious transport ship, was heading through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf. Three Iranian Navy speed boats approached within 500 yards of the ship and, in a blatant defiance of standard maritime protocols, refused to heed the calls from the U.S. crew to back off.

Also, on the same day, Iranian Navy boats harassed the US Coast Guard cutter Adak, which was operating off the Kuwaiti coast. U.S. personnel on the cutter said Iranian crew members were armed with AK-47 rifles. A machine-gun was mounted on the bow of one of the Iranian boats and was pointed directly at the Coast Guard crew.[Actually, from the video footage, it appears as if there was more than one machine gun mounted on the (three) boats. Perhaps even 3 machine guns.]

"I can confirm there was some harassment," said a senior official.

Nevertheless, some U.S. [Pentagon] officials - presumably Obama and Panetta cronies - said that the occurrences were "routine" and that the Iranians' actions were not hostile...

Heh...

Par for the course.......

The 'Obama' course....... Heh.......