Times Online But an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman dismissed it is a routine incident. “This is an ordinary occurrence which happens every now and then for both sides,” he told the IRNA news agency. News of the stand-off emerged as President Bush prepares to leave tomorrow on a trip to the Middle East in which he is expected to tackle Iran’s growing regional influence.

The face-off was the most serious such incident since the Revolutionary Guard’s seizure of eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Marines from the HMS Cornwall last March in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in the Gulf. Iran claimed that the 15 had strayed into Iranian waters, which Britain denied. But an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman dismissed it is a routine incident. “This is an ordinary occurrence which happens every now and then for both sides,” he told the IRNA news agency.

I wasn’t there, and I don’t want to judge prematurely, but until the details come out, I would just like people to remember the Gulf of Tonkin incident.