U.S. Ship Keeps Iran Frigate From Freighter

WASHINGTON —  A U.S. Navy warship intercepted an Iranian frigate earlier this week as it approached an American cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman and, after several minutes of radioed warnings, persuaded the Iranians to leave the area, Administration sources said today.

The U.S. cargo ship that the Iranians attempted to approach was the President McKinley, which was bound for the port of Fujaira in the United Arab Emirates, the sources said.

The incident occurred shortly before midnight EDT Monday, which was during the early morning hours of Tuesday in the Gulf of Oman, which is just below the Persian Gulf.

The officials, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not identified, called the incident a “confrontation,” but stressed that there were no threats made with weapons.

The sources said the U.S. warship intercepted the Iranian frigate so quickly that the Iranians never had a chance to demand that the cargo ship submit to a search.

“It was a confrontation,” said one source. “We had to tell them a couple times to move on. There was tension.”

The Iranians succeeded for the first time last January in forcing a U.S. cargo vessel to submit to a search by a boarding party. The Iranians maintain that under international law, they have the right to search the cargo ships of neutral countries for any war goods that might be bound for Iraq. Iran and Iraq have been warring with each other for more than five years.