Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Thoughts on U.S. Navy boats and Iran

My initial impression, based on e-mails I’ve gotten, is that this was a screw-up by the Navy crews. Joke I’ve heard: “Give us the boats back. Keep the crews.”

Iranian Revolutionary Guards drive speedboats during a ceremony to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the downing of Iran Air flight 655 by the US navy, at the port of Bandar Abbas on July 2, 2012. The plane was shot down by mistake over the Gulf by the US navy's guided missile cruiser, USS Vincennes, during confrontation with Iranian speedboats on July 3, 1988, killing 290 civilian passengers and crew members. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE        (Photo credit should read )
Iranian Revolutionary Guards drive speedboats during a ceremony to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the downing of Iran Air flight 655 by the US navy, at the port of Bandar Abbas on July 2, 2012. The plane was shot down by mistake over the Gulf by the US navy's guided missile cruiser, USS Vincennes, during confrontation with Iranian speedboats on July 3, 1988, killing 290 civilian passengers and crew members. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read )
Iranian Revolutionary Guards drive speedboats during a ceremony to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the downing of Iran Air flight 655 by the US navy, at the port of Bandar Abbas on July 2, 2012. The plane was shot down by mistake over the Gulf by the US navy's guided missile cruiser, USS Vincennes, during confrontation with Iranian speedboats on July 3, 1988, killing 290 civilian passengers and crew members. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read )

My initial impression, based on e-mails I’ve gotten, is that this was a screw-up by the Navy crews. Joke I’ve heard: “Give us the boats back. Keep the crews.”

My initial impression, based on e-mails I’ve gotten, is that this was a screw-up by the Navy crews. Joke I’ve heard: “Give us the boats back. Keep the crews.”

I still think they probably were dancing close to the line and then were surprised to have their encrypted GPS jammed. But any sailor knows that is no excuse.

There is a guy in the fotos who looks like an interpreter. I was surprised the Iranians released him. Of course there are some in Iran who want the deal to go through—but there are some against it.

Speaking of the photos, I generally was surprised at how well the Iranians treated the Americans, given that our two nations have been engaged in a small-scale demi-war in the Persian Gulf for the last 25 years or so.

I also wonder if this action was a reaction to the Americans releasing videos of the Iranian rocket fire in the Gulf. The Iranians may have been watching the small U.S. Navy boats for some time, and decided that this was the time to make a point about them.

ATTA KENARE/AFP/GettyImages

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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