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UK envoy seeks access to detained sailors in Iran
Jaw-Jaw Binks
The British envoy to Tehran on Sunday requested access to 15 detained British naval personnel who Iran says entered Iranian waters illegally despite Britain's insistence they were in Iraqi territory, a diplomat said.

Iranian forces captured 15 British sailors and marines on Friday at the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which marks the southern stretch of Iraq's border with Iran. It has sparked a diplomatic crisis when tensions are already high with the West over Tehran's nuclear program. The U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on Iran on Saturday. Britain's Ambassador Geoffrey Adams met Iranian Foreign Ministry official Ebrahim Rahimpour to discuss the issue at London's request, a British diplomat in Tehran told Reuters.

"We have repeated the line asking for their release. We asked for details of where they are and asked for consular access," the diplomat said. "The (Iranian Foreign Ministry) promised to look into these requests and dialogue is continuing," the diplomat added. Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported on Saturday that the 15 sailors and marines had been transferred to Tehran. But this has not been independently confirmed.

Jack Straw, leader of Britain's House of Commons and former Foreign Minister, told BBC television that one of those detained was a woman and said British Foreign Ministry officials were "working very hard indeed to try to secure their safe return". "It requires some very careful and intense diplomacy," Straw said.

Diplomacy isn't going to get you anywhere with the MMs unless you demonstrate your willingness to back it up with violence. Do that, and you'll be shocked at how effective diplomacy can be; fail to do it, and you achieve nothing more than self-humiliation. Whatever you do, don't repeat Jimmy Carter's pathetic performance in 1979-1980 because that's what got us into this damned mess in the first place.

Iran wants this to turn into a war. It's a reenactment of the 2004 incident, but it's also a reenactment of this summer's Israel-Hezbollah war. Brigades of Green Helmet Guys are standing by, even as we speak blog, just waiting to point the finger at the injuries inflicted on the innocent Muslims. Iranian and Hezbollah missiles will probably rain down on Israel as soon as the hostilities start, and a few of the newer missiles will be launched at European and British and maybe even American targets. Probably the Hezbollah sleeper cells will be activated as well. The OIC nations will start pushing for an immediate "ceasefire" as soon as the hostilities begin, and as soon as it's pushed through the security councile Iran will announce "victory." The official press will start speculating whether Mahmoud is in reality the Mahdi about then, too, and he'll modestly reveal himself.

As an alternative to a declaration of war, I'd suggest the missiles rain down on Iran every time there's a mass demonstration anywhere, and that both the Brits and the U.S. deny all responsibility.
Posted by: Dave D. 2007-03-25
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=184008