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Iraq
Iran Nabs British Sailors in Iraq Waters
2007-03-23
LONDON (AP) - Iranian naval vessels seized 15 British sailors in Iraqi waters on Friday, the Ministry of Defense said. The British Navy personnel were ``engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters,'' and had completed their inspection of a merchant ship when they were accosted by Iranian vessels, the ministry said.

``We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level and ... the Iranian ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office,'' the ministry said.

A Pentagon official said the Britons were in two inflatable boats from the frigate H.M.S. Cornwall during a routine smuggling investigation, said the official, who spoke on condition on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the incident. He said the confrontation happened as the British contingent was traveling along the boundary of territorial waters between Iran and Iraq. They were detained by the Revolutionary Guard's navy, he said.
One could ask where the H.M.S. Cornwall was when her crewmen were grabbed. But I'll wait till we get more details, they could have been on detached duty or so far away she couldn't respond in time.
A fisherman who said he was with a group of Iraqis from the southern city of Basra fishing in Iraqi waters in the northern area of the Gulf said he saw the Iranian seizure. The fisherman declined to be identified because of security concerns.

``Two boats, each with a crew of six to eight multinational forces, were searching Iraqi and Iranian boats Friday morning in Ras al-Beesha area in the northern entrance of the Arab Gulf, but big Iranian boats came and took the two boats with their crews to the Iranian waters.''

The Britain government said it had demanded ``the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment.''
SkyNews has more.

It's the Dreaded Summoning of charge d'affaires! TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran summoned the British charge d'affaires to Tehran on Friday to protest over what it said was the illegal entry of British naval personnel into Iranian waters, state television reported. Britain said 15 British naval personnel were seized by Iran in the Gulf but that they were in Iraqi waters.

"The Iranian Foreign Ministry has seriously objected following the illegal entry of British naval military forces into our country's waters," state television reported, adding that they were detained by Iranian border guards for further investigation.
Posted by:Steve

#12  Start with a shot THROUGH the bows. If they don't stop, put a dozen or so into the bridge. If they STILL don't stop, sink them.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2007-03-23 21:51  

#11  Start with a shot across the bow, and proceed from there, FOTSGreg?
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-03-23 20:28  

#10  The following ROE's ought to be in place immediately (and should have been in place here),

1) Any vessel suspected to be partaking in elicit activities is subject to boarding without notice and, in such cases as the suspect vessel does not immediately heave to and submit, to being sunk,

2) Anyone interfering with the capture and or sinking of suspect vessels is also subject to immediate countermeasures against them including offensive military action,

3) The kidnapping of any personnel partaking in actions sanctioned by the UN or the USA in international waters is and will be considered an act of war which will bring immediate action upon the perpetrators as needed by the situation in question,

4) The entirety of the Presian Gulf including those areas included by territorial waters and all areas included and agreed to be international waters is declared to be a war zone and to be completely covered by the terms of this declaration,

5) Any and all attacks upon any vessel operating under UN flag conditions or any vessel operating under the US flag, shall be considered an act of war upon the USA and shall be responded to with the maximum force with which the appropriate military forces can deliver as per the orders of the President.

Posted by: FOTSGreg   2007-03-23 20:26  

#9  The Iranian régime keeps pushing themselves into a Saddam solution. The sooner the better for our Coalition troops combating the jihadist enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Posted by: Mark Espinola   2007-03-23 18:47  

#8  Anyone got any figures on what kind of tonnage the UK/ US has in the area?
Posted by: Howard UK   2007-03-23 15:31  

#7  Fact Card - HMS Cornwall:

Armaments:

Eight Harpoon anti-ship missiles; GWS 25 MOD3 Seawof anti-missile, anti-aircraft system; 2(4) x 30mm single-barrel guns; 4.5 inch Mk8 shore bombardment, anti-aircraft and anti ship gun; CIWS3 Goalkeeper anti-missile system; two triple STWS torpedo tubes

Will to use them:

Zero
Posted by: Excalibur   2007-03-23 13:59  

#6  "British ROE's were to let their people get snatched .."

Just so as to make the likes of Magaret Beckett relevant.....summon the Iraniam ambassador,haha. She's got a giant hole in her bucket, a worse idiotarian FM than the previous man of Straw.

Utterly disgusting and simply unbelievable this time around. Witnessed by HMS Cornwall's helicopter and as if out of range of its radar!
Posted by: Duh!   2007-03-23 13:49  

#5  Is this Iran's response to the recent spate of their senior military staff who've "diappeared"?
Posted by: WhitecollarRedneck   2007-03-23 12:35  

#4  Can these asinine Iranian sods possibly beg any harder to get their arses kicked? What will it finally take? A personal address by Ahmadinejad before the UN assembly requesting any and all to open up a six pack of whoop-@ss at the earliest opportunity?
Posted by: Zenster   2007-03-23 12:07  

#3  My feeling is that British ROE's were to let their people get snatched - it's part of the softly-softly approach. This is why Iranians have seized exactly zero Americans (since attempts probably get reported as firefights), whereas Brits have been snatched three or more times.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2007-03-23 11:58  

#2  From a Reuters wire:

"Hopefully there has been a mistake that has been made and we will see early clarification and an early release of my people," Commodore Nick Lambert, commander of the British fleet in the area, said in a television interview aboard HMS Cornwall.

Nelson would be so proud ...
Posted by: mrp   2007-03-23 10:30  

#1  1 iranian navy vessel should be destroyed every hour until the Limeys are released. Sink iranian ships even if they are in iranian ports. Oh, and deploy some mines...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2007-03-23 10:26  

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