Iran protests reported U.S. Navy incident

[unhappycamper]

Iran protests reported U.S. Navy incident
By Edith M. Lederer - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 17, 2009 19:51:15 EST

Iran sent a letter to the U.N. protesting what it called an unlawful attack by the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf that caused an Iranian fishing boat to sink.

The letter about the Sept. 15 incident was sent to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and was circulated Thursday.

It contains an earlier protest from Iran's Foreign Ministry to the Swiss Embassy, which represents the U.S. in Tehran.

According to that protest letter, two vessels from the destroyer John Paul Jones with a total of about 20 crew members "attacked a fishing vessel sailing under the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran" within the country's exclusive economic zone.

"After illegally searching and fingerprinting the crew of the vessel, the United States crew opened fire on its fuel tank, causing the vessel to catch fire and sink," the letter said. It did not say what happened to the Iranians on the fishing boat.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_iran_protest_121709/