Iran not a current threat to Persian Gulf traffic, says Petraeus

Washington, 3 April (WashingtonTV)—The top US commander in the Middle East said on Thursday that Iran’s naval forces pose no current threat to oil shipments through the Persian Gulf, reports the Bloomberg news agency.

“I don’t think we have any concerns about disruption to the navigation” in the Persian Gulf, General David Petraeus told the news agency, adding: “Certainly nothing from Iran.”

He noted that tensions between the US and Iranian navies had reduced, following a January 2008 incident, when five Iranian speedboats allegedly engaged in provocative actions against three US naval vessels in the Strait of Hormoz.

The Strait of Hormoz, a 33-mile wide waterway between Iran and Oman at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, is the sea route for nearly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply.

Tensions at that time “were approaching the point where a miscalculation could result in something fairly serious, and I think that everyone took a deep breath and stepped back from the ledge,” Petraeus told Bloomberg.

“We’re not sure whether that was sort of a rogue, small-boat operator getting a little bit feisty or what that was,” he added, referring to the January 2008 incident.

In an effort to prevent similar incidents, two US congressmen on Thursday introduced a bipartisan resolution calling for a naval communication protocol agreement between the US military and its Iranian counterpart.

“The current lack of a naval communication protocol between the United States and Iran places our troops in harm’s way and creates a substantial risk of accidental military conflict in the Strait of Hormoz and the Persian Gulf,” said Democratic Representative John Conyers.

Noting that approximately eight US naval vessels, 250 oil tankers, and over 100 million tons of cargo are shipped through the “narrow, two mile-wide shipping lanes” of the Strait of Hormoz each week, Conyers said: “The need for a ship-to-ship naval communication protocol could not be more obvious.”

Republican Representative Geoff Davis, who introduced the bill with Conyers, said that a naval conflict in that waterway “would have dire consequences for the world’s oil supply and the international economy.”

“This resolution will enhance the safety of American sailors,” said Davis.

He added that the United States and former Soviet Union signed a similar pact during the Cold War.

Sources: Bloomberg news agency, website of Representative Geoff Davis

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