It's a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Perhaps Iran is hoping for a command performance by James Taylor. Or an Obama speaking tour.
Can you solve this mystery of diplomatic intrigue raised at a White House press conference?
Q Moving on to Iran, so a U.S. Navy ship fired warning shots to warn an Iranian fast-attack craft yesterday. And this is the latest in a series of incidents in the Gulf this week. I was wondering, what does the White House think about these incidents that they seem to be escalating? Does the White House consider that these tactics are planned or that this is an orchestrated -- that these events are being orchestrated towards some end? What is the White House view on these incidents?
MR. EARNEST: Yes, Ayesha, you won't be surprised to hear that the White House is well aware of recent incidents in and around the Strait of Hormuz of Iranian vessels approaching U.S. vessels who are operating in international waters. The Department of Defense has reached their own assessment about a couple of these situations and determined that the actions that were taken by the Iranian vessels were unsafe and unprofessional.
Whew. That's good news.
We've determined that Iran's harassment of US vessels was unsafe and unprofessional. So we can await swift and prompt action any day now.
It's unclear exactly what their intentions were or what their aims might have been, but the behavior that we have seen is not acceptable, primarily because this is already a volatile region of the world. And in a compressed space like the Strait of Hormuz, it only increases the risk associated with possible miscalculations. That's certainly something that we want to avoid.
Yes and Iran knows that.
So obviously the situation is rather unique, and our ability to discern exactly what their intent was is limited by the fact that we don't have diplomatic relations with Iran.
Or eyes and ears. Or comm