U.S. Warship Ends Iranian Move to Halt Cargo Ship

A U.S. Navy warship intercepted an Iranian frigate earlier this week and convinced it to cease apparent efforts to stop a U.S. cargo ship’s passage in the Gulf of Oman, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

“Late Monday night Washington time, the American merchant ship President McKinley, while transiting in international waters, was hailed by radio by an Iranian frigate on patrol in the Gulf of Oman,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

“A U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS David Ray, which was operating in the area, was within a mile of the President McKinley when the Iranian ship came into view.

“The U.S. destroyer identified itself to the Iranian frigate and requested the Iranians to stand clear to ensure freedom of navigation of the U.S. merchant ship. The Iranian unit honored the U.S. unit’s request.”

Looking for Materiel

The Pentagon declined to give additional details. But Administration officials, who agreed to discuss the matter only if they were not identified, said the Iranians were thought to have been planning to board the President McKinley to search it for war materiel that might be bound for Iraq.

Officials said the incident began about dawn Tuesday local time with a radio call from a 310-foot-long frigate of the Iranian navy, stating: “Container ship, container ship, this is an Iranian warship calling.”

In its statement, the Pentagon said the McKinley advised the Iranian ship it was bound for the port of Fujaira in the United Arab Emirates, not the Persian Gulf. According to the sources, the Ray--which had been shadowing the McKinley--then broke in and identified itself as a U.S. warship and the cargo ship as a U.S.-flag merchant.

The captain of the Ray then informed the Iranians that they were sailing in international waters, that he was moving into a position between the Iranian frigate and the cargo ship and that he was requesting that the Iranians maintain a distance of at least five nautical miles, the sources said.

After several additional minutes of radio conversation and repeated requests that the Iranians move on, the frigate finally steamed away, the sources said.

The sources described the radio exchange as “tense” and said the Iranian frigate was about six miles from the U.S. vessels when the incident took place.

Search in January

Iran, which has been fighting Iraq for more than five years, stopped and searched the merchant ship President Taylor last January in the Gulf of Oman. During that incident, no U.S. Navy ships were close enough to intercede.

Both the President Taylor and the President McKinley are owned by American President Lines Ltd., headquartered in Oakland, Calif. A spokesman, Steve Potash, said Wednesday there was no harm to the McKinley or its crew and that the ship “did not even deviate her course or speed.”

Potash said the McKinley was carrying “routine commercial cargo” and was bound for Fujaira in the United Arab Emirates at the time of the incident.

Iran began stopping and searching merchant ships in the region last summer in retaliation for Iraq’s bombing of tankers and other ships taking on oil and carrying supplies to Iran. It was not until Jan. 12, however, when the President Taylor was boarded and searched for two hours, that an American vessel was stopped by Iran on the high seas.

Meanwhile, the official Iranian news agency quoted the Iranian foreign minister as saying Wednesday that Iran would not tolerate any U.S. intervention in the Persian Gulf.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran, as the strongest power in the Persian Gulf, will not allow any foreign country, American or non-American, to intervene in the region,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati was quoted as saying.