Rememebr them in prayer

This is an article from CBS.com Our friend Jeremy is on the Port Royal and all Darrick's old shipmates from the Hopper. Please keep them in your prayers.

Pentagon: Iranians Harassed Navy Ships

(CBS/AP) In what U.S. officials called a serious provocation, Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, threatening to explode the American vessels. U.S. forces were on the verge of firing on the Iranian boats in the early Sunday incident, when the boats turned and moved away, a Pentagon official said. "It is the most serious provocation of this sort that we've seen yet," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. Iran's Foreign Ministry said Monday that the confrontation between Iranian boats and U.S. Navy ships over the weekend was "something normal" and was resolved. It suggested the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. The incident occurred at about 5 a.m. local time Sunday. CBS News has learned from Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman that the three ships - the guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal, the guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper and the guided missile frigate USS Ingraham - were transiting the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf when they were approached by 5 Iranian fast boats, some of which were assessed to be visibly armed. The small boats began charging the U.S. ships, dropping boxes in the water in front of the Navy vessels and forcing the U.S. ships to take evasive maneuvers, the Pentagon official said. CBS News Correspondent Vicki Barker reports that, according to Pentagon officials, the Iranians reportedly radioed something to the effect of "We're coming at you and you'll explode in a couple minutes," although there was no precise transcript of communications that the two forces exchanged available. There were no injuries but the official said there could have been, because the Iranian boats turned away "literally at the very moment that U.S. forces were preparing to open fire" in self defense. Whitman said the Iranians' actions displayed "wreckless, dangerous, and potentially hostile intent." He also said that the U.S. ships followed "appropriate protocols" and were in international waters. The entire incident took about 15-20 minutes duration, according to the Pentagon. At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack said he was not aware of any plans to lodge a formal protest.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said the weekend incident between Iranian boats and U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz was "something normal" and was resolved."Without specific reference to this incident in the Strait of Hormuz, the United States will confront Iranian behavior where it seeks to do harm either to us or to our friends and allies in the region," McCormack told reporters. "There is wide support for that within the region and certainly that's not going to change." Whitman said the Pentagon will work with State and National Security Council officials to determine "the appropriate way to address this with the Iranian government." Historical tensions between the two nations have increased in recent years over Washington's charge that Tehran has been developing nuclear weapons and supplying and training Iraqi insurgents using roadside bombs - the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq. According to CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller, White House spokesperson Tony Fratto said the Bush administration urges the Iranians "to abstain from such provocative acts that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future."