Be Careful, Kids - Monkey Business Can Start Wars

It seems the recent close encounter between U.S. Navy warships and Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz was spurred on by a notorious radio wisecracker called the "Filipino Monkey." The Guardian reports that the elusive monkey—a "mythical guy out there who, hour after hour, shouts obscenities and threats" over Navy radio frequencies—was the creepy voice that American sailors heard muttering, "I am coming to you... You will explode in a few minutes," during their 20-minute standoff last week with the Iranians. (Click here for the monkey see, monkey do. Sorry, I couldn't resist.) For their part, the Iranians deny any aggressive behavior, claiming the video/audio released by the Pentagon is propaganda. Whatever the case, there's a surly monkey of a man out there somewhere, probably sitting alone in his basement with a toy radio set, who almost made our world much more complicated.