Hormuz Hardball

By Massimo Calabresi

The Pentagon video showed it clearly: Iranian speedboats buzzing dangerously close to three U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway at the base of the Persian Gulf, on Jan. 6. A foreign voice called over the radio, "You will explode in a few minutes"--chilling words for those who remembered the small-boat attack on the U.S.S. Cole that killed 17 in 2000. Then, before the warships could fire, the boats turned away.

Tehran called it a routine encounter, even saying the audio was faked. But the White House wasn't ready to let it pass. Besides the Pentagon's release of the footage, the White House called the run-in "reckless." It was a "dangerous situation," said President George W. Bush. "They should not have done it, pure and simple."

Why the high-profile pushback? Diplomatic necessity. Bush was to embark on Jan. 8 for an eight-day Middle East trip, in part to persuade his gulf allies to unite against Iran. Their leaders (all Sunnis) are wary of (Shi'ite) Iran's growing power but have been reluctant to side with U.S. calls for a new U.N. resolution. Last year's U.S. intelligence report, which downplayed the Iranian nuclear threat, did little to help U.S. credibility on the issue. So even a brief act of aggression by Iran became welcome evidence for the U.S. case. Skeptics say Washington sees in the encounter as much a p.r. opportunity as a bona fide threat. "The fact that it comes a couple of days before the President sets off on his trip raises questions," says Professor Gary Sick, an Iran expert at Columbia University.

It will take more than this incident to solidify an anti-Iran coalition, however. Reem al Hashimy, deputy at the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Washington, says her country will go along with U.N. efforts to constrain Iran but won't "stick its head out" any further.