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British servicemen were "forcibly escorted" into Iranâs territorial waters
EFLThe men maintain they had been operating in Iraqâs waters and had not strayed into Iranâs, UK defence secretary Geoff Hoon said. But Iranâs foreign ministry claims British officials have admitted the boats entered its waters by mistake. "The minutes admitted that the British boats entered the Iranian waters by mistake," Mr Asefi said in a statement issued through Iranâs official news agency. And, he added, Mr Straw, during a telephone conversation with Iranâs Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, had also said the British soldiers entered Iranian waters by mistake. Responding to that issue the foreign secretary said later: "The sequence is that initially we thought, and a British Army spokesman said, that the servicemen had strayed into Iranian waters by mistake. In their debrief, I understand the crews have said that they were on the Iraqi side of the border." He added that while the British denial that its servicemen had strayed into Iranian waters is likely to prolong the return of its navigational equipment, it is the equipment itself that can ultimately retrace the exact movements of the team. Posted by: growler 2004-07-01 |
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