Un incident dans le Golfe Persique entre des navires iraniens et des b\u00e2timent de l’U.S. Navy ram\u00e8ne l’attention sur la situation dans la r\u00e9gion et fait rena\u00eetre la possibilit\u00e9 d’une tension explosive. L’incident, jusqu’ici rapport\u00e9 selon la version du Pentagone, a \u00e9t\u00e9 tr\u00e8s proche de l’affrontement. Selon The Independent<\/em> d’aujourd’hui<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00abThe US and Iran have engaged in their most serious military confrontation in recent times, with American warships on the verge of opening fire on gunboats of the Revolutionary Guards which had threatened to blow them up.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThe incident, details of which were confirmed by the Pentagon yesterday, came on the eve of President George Bush’s visit to the Middle East and follows claims by US commanders in the Persian Gulf that Iran was trying to destablise the region.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThe three US ships and five Iranian vessels clashed in the early hours of Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz, the stretch of water where a 15-strong British naval party was taken hostage by the Revolutionary Guards last year. American officials at the time said that a similar attempt to seize their personnel would have led to immediate retaliation.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThe Pentagon claimed the American ships were in international waters, although the demarcation of the border between Iran and Iraq on the Strait remains a matter of dispute. An American official said that the Revolutionary Guards boats swarmed to within 200 metres of the USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham and the Iranians transmitted a radio message saying: I am coming at you; you will explode in a couple of minutes.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n \t\u00bbThe captain of one of the US vessels was literally moments away from giving the order to open fire when the Iranian vessels moved away, American officials said. The Iranian boats were observed before the stand-off, dropping small white containers into the water, the Americans said, an exercise for laying mines.<\/em>\u00bb<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \tL’incident intervient au moment o\u00f9 GW Bush entreprend une tourn\u00e9e au Moyen-Orient. Le rapport est fait par certains entre les deux \u00e9v\u00e9nement et, \u00e0 nouveau, on reparle d’une tension dans la r\u00e9gion, en m\u00eame temps qu’on red\u00e9couvre l’existence de GW Bush \u00e9clips\u00e9<\/a> par le fi\u00e9vreux d\u00e9but de la campagne US des primaires. L’importance qu’on essaie de donner au voyage de Bush est \u00e9galement renforc\u00e9e par les rumeurs sur l’intention des Isra\u00e9liens (du ministre de la d\u00e9fense Barak) d’exposer \u00e0 Bush des pr\u00e9cisions sur des plans d’attaque isra\u00e9liens contre l’Iran. (Un de nos lecteurs retranscrit dans le Forum<\/em>, \u00e0 la date du 6 janvier<\/a>, l’article du Sunday Times<\/em> sur cette affaire.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n