A Tragic Mistake

The Persian Gulf is a busy seaway, and the risks of war have done little to diminish its commercial traffic. Sunday night a U.S. Navy frigate had reason to believe it was about to come under attack from Iranian gunboats. Various means were used to try to warn the suspected attackers away. When the small boats continued to close with the frigate it opened fire with machine guns. Later it was learned that an Indian crewman aboard a fishing boat operating from the United Arab Emirates had been killed by this gunfire.

It was an accident--in the circumstances of the gulf war an understandable accident--but it stands as a tragedy and an embarrassment nonetheless. The fishing boats that came under fire, as it happens, are remarkably similar in appearance to the speedboats used by Iranian Revolutionary Guards when they launch grenade and machine gun attacks against neutral shipping. The fishing vessels didn’t have radios. They could only be communicated with by visual means, something not easily accomplished in the dark. At the same time the Americans who were on guard against attack had every reason to be especially suspicious and alert when they were approached by unidentified small craft.

Iran, which this week marked the eighth anniversary of its seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by celebrating “Death to America” day, moved quickly to try to wring full propaganda advantage from the incident. The State Department has expressed regret for the mistaken attack. Regret should, of course, include compensation for the death that was caused and the damage that was done.

The problem underscored by the attack meanwhile remains. It’s obviously not easy to distinguish at night between hostile Iranian speedboats and non-threatening look-alike fishing craft. The challenge to the Navy is to try to develop tactical guidelines that seek to protect the innocent from mistaken attack, without requiring the kind of delays in taking self-protective action that might imperil American lives.