Don’t Bomb Iran

Oz navy confronts six “Iranian gunboats” who allegedly approached a disputed maritime border near an Iraqi oil platform.    On the same day,  Rumsfeld turned up the rhetoric, saying Iran has forces operating in Iraq, and Cheney issued darker threats than before.  So little surprise that the Australian lapdog starts confronting Irans navy.
It is worth remembering that the largest sea battle since World War Two was one day 1988, when the US navy destroyed half the Iranian navy during  Saddam’s war with Iran  see Operation Praying Mantis

From the Sydney Morning Herald article article

Rumsfeld warns of incursions after Australians repel guards

March 9, 2006

THE US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has accused Iran of sending Revolutionary Guards forces into Iraq, his latest accusation of Iranian meddling in the war.

“They are currently putting people into Iraq to do things that are harmful to the future of Iraq,” Mr Rumsfeld said.

An Australian frigate was involved in a tense stand-off with six Iranian gunboats while guarding Iraq’s oil platforms in the Gulf on Saturday.

The crew of HMAS Parramatta spotted the six motorboats from the Revolutionary Guard Navy approaching the disputed international boundary near Iraq’s Khwar Abd Allah oil terminal. The offshore platform is one of two that Iraq relies on for 87 per cent of its income.

The Parramatta’s captain, Commander Jonathan Mead, ordered his crew to sweep at high speed through the area.

“It was a tense 30 minutes but we were able to de-escalate it,” Commander Mead said. The Iranians eventually turned away.

Two days earlier the Parramatta had intercepted another Iranian vessel that crossed the boundary.

Brendan Nicholson and Reuters