Earlier Sunday in Bahrain, US Vice-Admiral Kevin Cosgriff told Bush that he took it “deadly seriously” when an Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up a three-ship US Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters. The Iranian naval forces vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday accused Washington of trying to spread anti-Iranian sentiment in West Asia by claiming that Iranian boats threatened US warships in the Persian Gulf.

Iran has insisted its boats never threatened the US ships and that the incident was a normal occurrence in the Gulf waters.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini accused the administration of Bush of trying to stir up tensions in the Gulf.

“Some political factions in the US are pursuing adventurism to help Bush to spread Iran-phobia in the region,” Hosseini said.