Threats to US ships in the Strait of Hormuz heard at the end of a Pentagon-released recording of an incident between Iranian patrol boats and US Navy warships last week may have been the work of a local heckler known as the “Filipino Monkey”, The Navy Times has reported.
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A video released on Friday showed several small Iranian boats approaching US ships in an incident that President Bush has described as “provocative”, while a previously-released audio recording included a threat to destroy the ships.
The Pentagon says the threat was received during the incident.
In accented English a voice is heard to say “I am coming to you … You will explode in a few minutes.” Pentagon officials had previously stated that the voice came from one of the boats, but they are now distancing themselves from that claim, saying instead that they do not know the source of the transmission.
The Navy Times said that the voice in the audio did not match that of an Iranian officer shown speaking to Navy cruiser USS Port Royal over the radio in a video released by the Iranian authorities.
This has led several Navy experts to raise the possibility that a heckler, known locally as the “Filipino Monkey” - or a copycat - could have made the threats.
“Filipino Monkey” is believed to be more than one person. Its modus operandi is to listen in to ship-to-ship radio traffic before jumping in with insults and threats.
According to The Navy Times, US Navy women come in for particularly harsh treatment. A civilian mariner told the paper that the “Filipino Monkey” phenomenon is worldwide, but more common in areas of heavy shipping such as the Strait of Hormuz.
Despite the discovery that Iran may not have been behind the threats, US President George W Bush has not toned down his rhetoric against the Islamic state. Speaking during his eight-day tour of the Middle East, Mr Bush described Iran as “the world’s leading state sponsor of terror,” which funds extremists, stirs up unrest in Lebanon, arms the Taliban, and threatens the stability of the entire Middle East with its refusal to fully disclose the facts surrounding its nuclear programme.
