early 1984. Saddam Hussein's aim in attacking Iranian shipping was, among other things, to provoke the Iranians to retaliate with extreme measures, such as closing the Strait of Hormuz to all maritime traffic, thereby bringing American intervention. Iran limited the retaliatory attacks to Iraqi shipping, leaving the strait open. Operation Praying Mantis On 18 April 1988, the U.S. Navy waged a one-day battle against Iranian forces in and around the strait. The battle, dubbed Operation Praying Mantis by the United States, was launched in retaliation for the USS Samuel B. Roberts striking a mine laid in the channel by Iran on 14 April 1988. U.S. forces sank one frigate, one gunboat, and up to six armed speedboats, as well as seriously damaging a second frigate. Downing of Iran Air 655 On 3 July 1988, 290 people were killed when an Iran Air Airbus A300 was shot down over the strait by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes (CG-49) when it was wrongly identified as a jet fighter. Collision between USS Newport News and tanker Mogamigawa On 8 January 2007, the nuclear submarine USS Newport News, traveling submerged, struck , a 300,000-ton Japanese-flagged very large crude tanker, south of the strait. There were no injuries, and no oil leaked from the tanker. Tensions in 2008 2008 U.S.–Iranian naval dispute A series of naval stand-offs between Iranian speedboats and U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz occurred in December 2007 and January 2008. U.S. officials accused Iran of harassing and provoking their naval vessels, but Iranian officials denied the allegations. On 14 January 2008, U.S. Navy officials appeared to contradict the Pentagon version of the 16 January event, in which the Pentagon had reported that U.S. vessels had almost fired on approaching Iranian boats. The Navy's regional commander, Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, said the Iranians had "neither anti-ship missiles nor torpedoes" and he "wouldn't characterize the posture of the US 5th Fleet as afraid of these small boats". Iranian defence policy On 29 June 2008, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Mohammad Ali Jafari, said that if either Israel or the United States attacked Iran, it would seal off the Strait of Hormuz to wreak havoc in the oil markets. This followed more ambiguous threats from Iran's oil minister and other government officials that an attack on Iran would result in turmoil in the world's oil supply. Vice Admiral