"Adelaide" returned to the Middle East from July 2004 to January 2005 as part of Operation Catalyst, the Australian contribution to the reconstruction of Iraq following the United States-led invasion in 2003. During this deployment, in December 2004, several gunboats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard attempted to capture a boarding party after it had inspected the freighter MV "Sham", which had grounded near the Iraq-Iran maritime boundary. After completing their inspection, the boarding party returned to their two RHIBs, but were approached by an Iranian gunboat. The boarding party climbed back aboard "Sham", took up defensive positions, and, according to BBC reporter Frank Gardner, "warned Iranians to back off, using what was said to be 'highly colourful language'." During the next 45 minutes, four more gunboats arrived, and the stand-off lasted for four hours before the Australians were evacuated by "Adelaide"s Seahawk helicopter. No shots were fired during the incident, and two of the Australians were later awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for their conduct during the stand-off. The Australian Defence Force did not immediately report the incident to the media, as they felt no need to highlight it, and the attempted capture did not come to light until July 2007, when Gardner wrote about it following the capture of 15 British personnel during a similar incident in March 2007.