Iran denies confrontation at sea with U.S. Navy

April 12, 2008 --

  • Story Highlights

  • Iran denies report of Persian Gulf confrontation with U.S. Navy boat
     

  • Three small boats taunted USS Typhoon, U.S. military source said
     

  • Flare fired, but incident not considered serious, source says
     

  • U.S. media pushing for permanent U.S. presence, Iranian agency says

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran denied a report that several of its boats taunted a U.S. Navy vessel in the Persian Gulf on Thursday night, according to IRNA, Iran's official news agency.

A U.S. military official told CNN Friday that the USS Typhoon, a small patrol craft, was approached by three small Iranian boats in a "taunting manner."

"There has been no confrontation between Iranian boats and the U.S. [Fifth] Fleet," IRNA quoted an unnamed Iranian source as saying.

The U.S. military source said U.S. Navy officers conducted bridge-to-bridge communications with the Iranian boats and two of them then turned away. But one came within 200 yards of the Typhoon, prompting it to fire a warning flare. The Iranian boat then turned away.

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IRNA said the U.S. media "tries to portray the Persian Gulf as a turbulent area in order to prepare the grounds for the permanent presence of U.S. forces in the region." Video Watch Gen. David Petraeus assess Iran's role in the region »

The confrontation is not considered serious, the U.S. official said. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr contributed to this report.

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