Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:58:15 (Tehran)

The White House rejects Iran's assertion that the incident between Iranian boats and US warships in the Persian Gulf was 'ordinary'.

White House Spokeswoman Dana Perino said Tuesday that the incident, in which Washington claims Iranian speedboats came within 200 meters of three US navy warships in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, 'was out of the ordinary'.

Perino warned that the United States will not tolerate such 'reckless' incidents.

"It's hard for us to tell what they were thinking, or what they were doing, or whether or not they plan to take any such actions in the future," she added.

The Pentagon had alleged on Monday that speedboats belonging to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) harassed the US ships.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry, however, affirmed the incident was 'an ordinary issue'.

An IRGC source, speaking on condition of anonymity, has also confirmed that the US navy ships were questioned to identify themselves in a routine practice
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White House Spokeswoman Dana Perino