U.S. Radically Changes Its Story of the Boats in Iranian Waters: to an Even More Suspicious Version

When news first broke of the detention of two U.S. ships in Iranian territorial waters, the U.S. media — aside from depicting it as an act ofIranianaggression — uncritically cited the U.S. government’s explanation for what happened. One of the boats, we were told, experienced “mechanical failure” and thus “inadvertently drifted” into Iranian waters. On CBS News, Joe Biden told Charlie Rose, “One of theboats had engine failure, drifted into Iranian waters.”

Providedtheir government script, U.S...