F-14 Reportedly Fired Missiles at Iranian Jet

WASHINGTON —  A Navy F-14 fired two missiles over the weekend at a suspected Iranian jet fighter that appeared to be making “hostile moves” toward a U.S. surveillance plane, Administration sources and published reports said.

The sources, who demanded anonymity, said Monday that the incident occurred shortly after U.S. Navy warships began escorting a group of three Kuwaiti oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf.

The sources refused to be more specific about when the incident occurred or to say where it occurred, but it was presumed to be in or near the volatile Persian Gulf.

They sources did say, however, that the missiles fired by the Navy jet apparently did not strike anything.

Navy jet fighters attached to the aircraft carrier Constellation, which is believed to be in the northern Arabian Sea close to the Gulf of Oman, were already in the air when a Navy P-3 Orion surveillance plane reported that its radar indicated it was being approached by several airplanes, sources said.

The sources said the Navy F-14s were immediately sent to the area and “it appeared that the targets were threatening the P-3,” and the “air crews were convinced that hostile moves were being taken.”

Both the Washington Post and the New York Times reported in today’s editions that an F-14 fired two Sparrow air-to-air missiles at the suspected Iranian aircraft.

The New York Times said the P-3 was approached by an Iranian F-4. Administration officials told the paper that the Iranian pilot was warned, presumably over a channel all pilots are supposed to monitor when in international airspace, to stay away from the patrol plane.

The Iranian pilot continued to approach the patrol plane, the paper said, and the F-14 pilot launched two missiles. The missiles missed their target when the Iranian veered away sharply, the two newspapers said.

None of the U.S. jets were damaged, and it was unclear whether the suspected Iranian planes spotted by the P-3 on radar had been visually identified at any point.

But one official said it appeared the planes had been monitored taking off from the Iranian naval base at Bandar Abbas on the coast of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is known to have a small number of American-built F-4 Phantoms at that base.

The sources refused to say whether the incident had occurred during daylight hours, nor would they say if the missiles could have been fired in such a way as to serve as a warning shot.

The officials noted, however, that the United States had warned both Iran and Iraq that American forces would respond to threatening moves rather than wait for any attack to be launched.

That warning was issued in the wake of the May 17 attack on the frigate Stark by an Iraqi jet. Iraq characterized that attack, which killed 37 U.S. crewmen, as a case of mistaken identity.