Washington: Iranian boats aggressively approached three US Naval ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a main shipping route for Gulf oil, at the weekend and threatened that the ships would explode, US officials said on Monday.
Iran dismissed US concerns about the incident, saying it was a routine contact. But the Pentagon termed the Iranian actions 'careless, reckless and potentially hostile' and said Tehran should provide an explanation.
"This is a very volatile area and the risk of an incident escalating is real," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. "It is a reminder that there is a very unpredictable government in Tehran."
Vice Adm Kevin Cosgriff, the commander of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, which is based in the Gulf, said five Iranian fast boats moved aggressively toward the US ships in international waters and their actions were 'unduly provocative'.
"The ships received a radio call that was threatening in nature, to the effect that they were closing on our ships and... the US ships would explode," Cosgriff told reporters at the Pentagon via videolink from his Bahrain headquarters.
The incident was the latest sign of tension between Washington and Tehran, at odds over a range of issues from Iran's nuclear programme to US allegations of Iranian support for terrorism and interference in Iraq.
US President George W Bush is due to travel to the Middle East this week on a trip he has said is partly aimed at countering Iranian influence.
Cosgriff said the US Navy believed the Iranian boats belonged to the country's Revolutionary Guard and they were sometimes less than 500 yards (meters) from the US ships.
In October, the United States designated the Revolutionary Guard Corps a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and its elite Qods force a supporter of terrorism.
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