Iranians Probing US Military Ships' Defenses

Napoleon Ahmadinejad's minions are at it again:

Three speed boats of unidentified origin approached a US patrol boat as it transited the Gulf but stopped after a warning flare was fired, a US Navy spokesman said.

The USS Typhoon, a Coast Guard patrol boat, was heading from the central to the northern Gulf when it was approached by the high-speed boats, said Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet.

"Typhoon issued the standard query to the incoming small boards via bridge-to-bridge," he said by telephone from Bahrain. "Upon receiving no response, Typhoon activated a flare. Small boats stopped and Typhoon continued on its way."

Christensen said the small boats were of "unidentified origin."

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Navy operate speed boats in the northern Gulf, and have played cat-and-mouse games in the past with US warships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

There's not much doubt that these little sorties are intelligence probes to determine the type and intensity of US reactions. Similar incidents have allowed Iranian speedboats to get alarmingly close to American military ships, especially in light of the fate of the USS Cole.

Any sign of weakness or indecision on our part eventually will provoke more murderers to try to take out US sailors.

Solution? One warning shot across the bows once the boats approach within 1,000 yards. Then blow them out of the water, collect the floating body fragments and deliver them to the nearest Iranian embassy.