(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-09 21:55

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.

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In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry has suggested that the Iranian boats had not recognized the US 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 US 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 US military.

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