Tensions between the United States and Iran were heightened Monday when American ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz were harassed by five vessels believed to be from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy. The incident came as President George W. Bush prepared to depart Tuesday on his first major trip to the Middle East.

Video footage released by the U.S. Navy today confirms the Pentagon’s reports that the Iranian vessels behaved in an aggressive manner.

Associated Press reports:

An Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up a three-ship U.S. Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters, then vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, the top U.S. Navy commander in the area said Monday. …The three U.S. warships—cruiser uss Port Royal, destroyer uss Hopper and frigate uss Ingraham—were headed into the Persian Gulf through the Straits of Hormuz on what the U.S. Navy called a routine passage inside international waters when they were approached by five small high-speed vessels believed to be from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.The Iranians “maneuvered aggressively” in the direction of the U.S. ships, said Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, the commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf and is based at nearby Bahrain. …At one point the U.S. ships received a threatening radio call from the Iranians, “to the effect that they were closing (on) our ships and that the ships would explode—the U.S. ships would explode,” Cosgriff said. …Cosgriff [said] the U.S. ship commanders were moving through a standard series of actions—including radio calls to the Iranians that went unheeded—but did not reach the point of firing warning shots.

Questions remain about Iran’s precise motives for the aggression, particularly since, uncharacteristically, it is downplaying the incident. Washington, also, has not made a formal protest. Stratfor reports that it is unusual for hostile vessels to come so close to a U.S. ship without being fired upon.

Time asserts that the incident was a reminder from Iran that it still has a hand on the world’s oil spigot—every day, 17 million barrels of crude oil exports pass through the Strait of Hormuz. “There were no shots fired or damage caused, but no doubt this was an Iranian reminder to the United States that the Gulf is called the Persian Gulf for a reason” (January 8).

Regardless of any political spin placed on this latest Iranian provocation—perhaps due to what is at stake in future Iranian-U.S. negotiations over Iraq—it is certainly not an isolated act of Iranian aggression against the United States. Iran is responsible for providing arms, training and funds to terrorists in Iraq that continue to kill U.S. troops.

Washington’s response—as in the latest incident—has continually been one of appeasement and compromise. Watch for this to only boost Iran’s confidence further.