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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Blair convenes Cobra team as crisis in Iran escalates |
| 2007-03-25 |
| A little more information... THE official notification, delivered in secure calls yesterday morning to senior Whitehall figures, was the latest dramatic behind-the-scenes move to get to grips with a crisis that is now engulfing the government. After a day of shadow-boxing with a notoriously slippery regime, Tony Blair is set to up the ante: the plight of the Shatt al-Arab 15 is officially a crisis and he will need the Cobra team to handle it. The clutch of VIPs will gather in an operations room several floors below Downing Street as early as this afternoon to plot an escape from a military spat that now threatens to become an international incident. The decision came just 24 hours after the crew of HMS Cornwall had been caught in the confusion of direct confrontation with Iranian vessels in the searing heat of the Gulf. As the crew members were surrounded in their two rubber dinghies, the Cornwall's commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, frantically radioed back to his own top brass for instructions. The response to the inquiry, which had been immediately patched through to Ministry of Defence headquarters in Whitehall, was to hold fire. The order to show restraint has been observed throughout the forces and the British government in the 48 hours since, but it is unclear how long both sides will be able to maintain control. Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett's first response to the gathering crisis on Friday was to keep to diplomatic conventions. After a hurried phone call to Blair, she immediately summoned Iran's ambassador, Rasoul Movahedian, to her office to explain their behaviour. After a meeting described by officials as "brisk but polite", Beckett emerged to stress that she was "extremely disturbed" by events. It was an understated description of the deep concern now gripping the government. Not only was Blair's administration alarmed at the risk to the 15 military personnel, which included at least one woman, but it was in no doubt over Tehran's ability to use their plight to make a wider point. During a flurry of diplomatic activity in the hours after the snatch, the Iranians' rhetoric repeatedly elevated their action, and the alleged motives of the British, to a multinational affair. It was the eve of a second UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions over Iran's refusal to halt its programme to enrich uranium. The Shatt al-Arab 15 were, from the start, pawns in a perilous international game. "It looks like too much of a coincidence," a senior Foreign Office insider confirmed. The response was a no- nonsense demand for Iran to relent - and Britain freely used the international community to back up its case. Beckett dispatched the UK chargé d'affaires, Kate Smith, to confront the government in Tehran, armed with the insistence that the British sailors had been in Iraqi waters. In the meantime, Blair made a personal call to European allies, including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, to secure a public denunciation of the Iranians' actions. "It was impressed on everyone how important it was to raise the diplomatic temperature, rather than keep a low profile and let them make a song and dance of the situation," one defence official said. "There is nothing to be gained in provoking a confrontation, because that would be playing into their hands. But neither should we let them have it all their way. We tried that before and we're still trying to get our kit back." The smaller-scale precedent, the taking of six British marines and two sailors on the same waterway in June 2004, was a painful lesson. The personnel were only returned after they had been paraded blindfold on Iranian television and admitted entering Iranian waters illegally. Three years on, the government is still pressing Iran for the return of its boats and kit, including valuable radar equipment. The degree of concern felt across Whitehall was demonstrated yesterday, when Movahedian was called back to the Foreign Office, this time to see Beckett's minister, Lord Triesman. The British were clearly attempting to warn off Tehran before it could begin to use the servicemen and women as a significant propaganda tool. It was, however, a race against time - and through it all, the diplomats and the politicians were acutely aware that Tehran has built a foreign policy on disregarding diplomatic niceties. Yeah, we've noticed that, too... |
| Posted by:Dave D. |
| #28 COBRA > MOD > means the Brits are considering/contemplating, and planning, a MIL OPTION. Doesn't mean said mil option will happen. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-03-25 23:34 |
| #27 NS, I'm hoping that you have overlooked the likelihood of Ahmadinejad having them executed on television for Iranian public consumption. That sort of ignoble end to innocent young life would have a more incendiary effect on the British population than you might think. At least I've got to hope so, otherwise Britain is lost. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-25 21:59 |
| #26 If the Muslim farce in Britain has not persuaded it to rise up against Islam's constant predations, then perhaps the loss of over a dozen of its finest young men will. I doubt it. The logic will be, they were asking for it. Why were they over there in the first place being Bush's poodles? Serves them right and it should show the rest of our youth they shouldn't waste their time or endanger their lives by joining the fascist military. Sickening, but probable. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-03-25 21:39 |
| #25 With all due respect for the lives of those British soldiers, I've got to hope that Ahmadinejad is idiotic enough to go with Zhang Fei's Plan B. Nothing less than cold-blooded murder is going to stir up a British hornet's nest. If the Muslim farce in Britain has not persuaded it to rise up against Islam's constant predations, then perhaps the loss of over a dozen of its finest young men will. I will not discount Ahmadinejad's ability to do something so ill-advised that it might galvanize British opinion. His genocidal rhetoric has polarized much of the this world's community already. After breathing his own exhaust for so long, one can be sure that he sees very little as being beyond his grasp. Iran has already claimed untold hundreds, if not thousands of American lives. If another fifteen British ones must be sacrificed in order that punative action begins against Tehran, then so be it. Iran's comeuppance is so incredibly long overdue as to be shameful. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-25 20:40 |
| #24 COBRA Committee On Being Really Assertive? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2007-03-25 20:25 |
| #23 My feeling is that the Iranians will simply hold these men as hostages. If they torture or execute them, the pressure on Blair to escalate would be unbearable. And I think the Iranians understand that. But there's a side possibility - Ahmedinejad may execute these men just to show the Iranian people that American and British forces are merely paper tigers, and that his plans for Iranian territorial expansion are not only not fantastical, they are eminently practical against an emasculated West. If so, the weeks and months ahead promise to be eventful ones. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-03-25 20:16 |
| #22 AS: Sooo, if they come up with "Cottontail Committee" or "Project Pooh", we'll know it's On? Interesting... If they were interested in a tough response, they'd name the committee something neutral-sounding, in order to avoid being labeled warmongers. "Cobra" is a way to sound tough without being tough. Kind of like Hillary's tough-sounding pronouncements on defense, which have not been accompanied by the appropriate votes. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-03-25 20:06 |
| #21 a military spat that now threatens to become an international incident Threatens? Threatens? It is an international incident you frikkin' morons! It's beyond "a military spat", it's a freaking international incident and it's freaking about to blow sky high into a freaking military confrontation! Except the damned Brits are too freaking "polite" to respond to the provoation in the manner in which they should (which involves killing lots of people and blowing stuff up). Grow a pair, Tony, or give up. It's not a hard choice. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-03-25 18:59 |
| #20 This reads like an Oscar Wilde drawing room farce: As the crew members were surrounded in their two rubber dinghies, the Cornwall's commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, frantically radioed back to his own top brass for instructions. "Chappies it's Commodore Nick -- whatever should I do?" The response to the inquiry, which had been immediately patched through to Ministry of Defence headquarters in Whitehall, was to hold fire. "Do nothing, but tell the Iranians to brace for some brisk but polite negotiations." |
| Posted by: regular joe 2007-03-25 15:55 |
| #19 The response to the inquiry, which had been immediately patched through to Ministry of Defence headquarters in Whitehall, was to hold fire. Find whoever it was that answered the phone, then try them for treason and cowardice. Weapons are decorative without any will to use them. We have a stupendous amount of hardware floating just off of Iranian shores. It speaks volumes that Iran had the temerity to pull off a stunt of this magnitude right under the combined noses of so much firepower. After a point, not imposing consequences equates to rewarding a transgressor. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-03-25 15:15 |
| #18 My impression is that the nature of the British response will be inversely proportional to the nastiness of the critter after which the committee ("team") is named. Sooo, if they come up with "Cottontail Committee" or "Project Pooh", we'll know it's On? Interesting... |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2007-03-25 14:11 |
| #17 what would vince flynn do |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2007-03-25 13:40 |
| #16 Where is Rogue Warrior when you need him? |
| Posted by: SwissTex 2007-03-25 13:14 |
| #15 Yeah, what MoO sed, kicker Iran and then burn the cropse. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-03-25 11:48 |
| #14 S/B: Iran delenda est. |
| Posted by: Master of Obvious 2007-03-25 10:56 |
| #13 My impression is that the nature of the British response will be inversely proportional to the nastiness of the critter after which the committee ("team") is named. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2007-03-25 10:40 |
| #12 Thinking of names and Kill Bill.... California Mountain Snake would imply a lot more intent to do something than "Cobra Team". |
| Posted by: 3dc 2007-03-25 10:37 |
| #11 More like descendants of Chamberlan then Nelson (or Churchill)... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2007-03-25 10:26 |
| #10 Sad to say, Britain has zero military power of any consequence without the US to back it up. |
| Posted by: Perfesser 2007-03-25 10:03 |
| #9 Iran est delenda |
| Posted by: Canaveraldan 2007-03-25 09:22 |
| #8 It makes me ill to think that these are the decedents of Nelson. How the mighty have fallen. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-03-25 09:20 |
| #7 Now the Brits are going to pay through the nose for their years of neglecting national security. Just a few weeks ago, the Telegraph ran a series of articles which described a rapidly shrinking British defense establishment: fewer fighter-bomber squadrons, fewer infantry battalions, a Royal Navy reduced almost to 'national Coast Guard'. And those idiots in Parliament didn't know (or didn't care) that their enemies were closely watching... and waiting? |
| Posted by: mrp 2007-03-25 09:06 |
| #6 Maybe time for a freedom of navigation exercise. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-03-25 04:58 |
| #5 The lesson here is the Iranians will continue STARTING provocations util the Britishfinally END them forcefully. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-03-25 04:42 |
| #4 "The response to the inquiry, which had been immediately patched through to Ministry of Defence headquarters in Whitehall, was to hold fire." Wrong fkking move bucko. Right move: Train the frigates 5" and fire a warning shut across the bow while launching the helicopters, and callingthe local US nuc carrier to send the cap over STAT! to overfly at Mach1.5 for the sonic boomie. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2007-03-25 04:40 |
| #3 The clutch of VIPs will gather in an operations room several floors below Downing Street as early as this afternoon to plot an escape from a military spat that now threatens to become an international incident. I am going to choke on my own bile before this thing is done. So, who's for "occupying" the closest Iranian diplomatic mission? |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-03-25 02:24 |
| #2 OK, I don't have all the facts, don't know the precise tactical situation. But, exsqueeze me, WTF, the RN has a Type 22 frigate on the scene and they decide NOT to interven to nip this in the bud? Count me as generally unimpressed with the UK's approach to these things (discipline is great, making a fetish out of not using force usually costs more lives on both sides in the medium and long runs). But this smells of gross incompetence. And now look where it puts the UK govt. - strategizing about how to out-maneuver some 3rd-rate dictatorship. |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2007-03-25 00:33 |
| #1 Tony had better bomb Iran shortly or he'll go down in history as Chamberlain II. England having tied with Israel in a poor soccer game should ensure that hordes of hooligans are ready to focus on beating up some foreign wankers. /half-sarc |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2007-03-25 00:32 |