15 British Personnel seized by Iranian Navy

[digitalfreefall]

Ministry of Defence
23 Mar 07

15 British naval personnel have been seized by Iranian naval vessels today, 23 March 2007.

The incident took place at approximately 1030 Iraqi time.

The British Personnel were engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters in support of UNSCR 1723 and the government of Iraq.

Operating from HMS Cornwall, the UK boarding party had completed a successful inspection of a merchant ship when they and their two boats were surrounded and escorted by Iranian vessels into Iranian territorial waters.

We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level and on the instructions of the Foreign Secretary, the Iranian ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office.

The British Government is demanding the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment.

The MOD is currently in the process of informing the next-of-kin of the 15 personnel and would strongly urge the privacy of all families involved to be respected at what will be an extremely difficult time.

Any speculation about what might happen or the way our people may be treated could be genuinely dangerous, and the MOD urges media to refrain from such speculation whilst the Government conducts its urgent discussions with the Iranian authorities.





From Times Online
March 23, 2007
Iranians seize 15 UK marines in Gulf

Fifteen British sailors and Marines were captured by Iranian naval warships in Iraqi territorial waters today, prompting a major diplomatic crisis.

The Ministry of Defence said the 15 were conducting a routine shipping inspection from the Type 22 frigate HMS Cornwall in the north Arabian Gulf, when they were surrounded by Iranian vessels and escorted to waters controlled by Iran.

The Foreign Office said that Iran’s ambassador in London had been summoned and Britain was demanding the servicemen's immediate safe release.

The MoD said the incident happened at around 10.30am local time. “The boarding party had completed a successful inspection of a merchant ship when they and their two boats were surrounded and escorted by Iranian vessels into Iranian territorial waters,” a spokesman said.

“We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level and on the instructions of the Foreign Secretary, the Iranian ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office.

“The British Government is demanding the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment.”

The Pentagon also confirmed the detention, saying that the Britons were in two inflatable boats from the frigate HMS Cornwall during the routine operation. A BBC News 24 reporter on the ship, Ian Pannell, said that they had just boarded a dhow.

“While they were on board, a number of Iranian boats approached the waters in which they were operating - the Royal Navy are insistent that they were operating in Iraqi waters and not Iranian waters - and essentially captured the Royal Navy and Royal Marine personnel at gunpoint,” he said.

The area – on the Iran-Iraq border, is of high strategic importance, with British personnel regularly patrolling the Iraqi waters and boarding merchant vessels with UN permission to search them. It is not the first time that British servicemen have been taken captive by Iranian forces in the troubled waters.

In July 2004, eight servicemen - six Royal Marines and two Royal Navy sailors - were seized and detained after their patrol boats were said to have strayed into the Iranian side of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which divides Iran from Iraq and is a crucial transport route for oil supplies.

That incident triggered a dramatic stand-off, with the men blindfolded and held for three days during which they were paraded on Iranian TV, while the captors failed to meet deadlines for the return of British equipment, including boats, weapons and radios.

It was thought the group were on their way to Basra to deliver one of the patrol boats to the new Iraqi Riverine Patrol Service. British authorities denied straying into Iranian territory, with the then Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, saying that the crews were “forcibly escorted” into Iranian waters.

Oil prices rose above $62 a barrel following today's incident. Washington said that no US military personnel were involved.

The latest incident comes at a time of renewed tensions with Iran over Tehran’s enrichment of uranium, which Britain and other Western powers fear could be used to develop a nuclear weapon. It also coincided with fresh claims of Iranian interference in Iraq.

Lieutenant Colonel Justin Maciejewski, the commanding officer at the UK base at Basra Palace, said the Iranians were arming and funding insurgents attacking British troops.

“We have a lot of very modern and quite sophisticated weaponry being used against us - weaponry that could only really have been procured from a state,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“We haven’t found any ‘smoking gun’ but certainly all the circumstantial evidence points to Iranian involvement in the bombings here in Basra, which is disrupting the city to a great extent.

“Local sheikhs and tribal leaders here in Basra - who are desperate to prevent this violence escalating - are telling us that Iranian agents are paying up to 500 dollars a month for young Basrawi men to attack us.”

Earlier, an Iraqi fisherman in Basra told Reuters he had seen the incident in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, that marks the southern stretch of Iraq’s border with Iran, and where British naval boats routinely patrol to clamp down on cross-border smugglers.

The fisherman, who asked not be named, said six or seven foreign military personnel were on two small boats that stopped to check Iranian ships in the Siban area of the waterway, near the al-Faw peninsula that leads into the northern Gulf. When they boarded one ship, at least two Iranian vessels appeared on the scene and the military personnel were detained.

[AJtothemax]

It could be a show of force in a way. Their way of saying "we're not scared of you. Cross the border and you're ours!"

This is now the second time it has happened. I imagine they had to surrender as they were out-gunned and with all the training our personnel recieve, that was obviously the best decision to make there and then.

I hope they come home safe and well. But you just know the b*sterds are checking our equipment out

[cruicent]

But you just know the b*sterds are checking our equipment out

They dont need to, still have them from the last time. How much more provoking can iran do?

[greenronnie]

POST EDITED MFAT WE ARE IN THE CASE WITH THIS NO MARK

[AJtothemax]

But you just know the b*sterds are checking our equipment out

They dont need to, still have them from the last time. How much more provoking can iran do?

Its going to kick off eventually and once again i can see the U.S charging in first. They've already beefed up their forces in the gulf. If only our armed forces were larger - but no, these tossers in the government are still arguing the point that we dont need an armed forces that is larger because we are well away from fighting a cold war type army - this is another indication that we must be prepared for ANYTHING, because you cant predict whos going to decide to piss who off - end of!

Time will tell....

[xcj]

I agree, this is proof that the UK must maintain a large military force.

All we hear about is the fact our armed forces are stretched (but not overstretched ). If theyre already stretched then in theory theres nothing we can do about Iran pushing its weight about. This makes our bark a lot louder than our bite.

I doubt the Iranians would dare do it to the Americans (I may be wrong, who knows) because the Americans could do something about it, quickly and on their own if need-be.

If we had the man power, we could have a large rapid reaction force on the Iranian border in a matter of days to back up our "let them go or else" threats. I rekon that'd get through the skulls of the Iranians a lot quicker than the so far empty threats of the government.

[AJtothemax]

I agree, this is proof that the UK must maintain a large military force.

All we hear about is the fact our armed forces are stretched (but not overstretched ). If theyre already stretched then in theory theres nothing we can do about Iran pushing its weight about. This makes our bark a lot louder than our bite.

I doubt the Iranians would dare do it to the Americans (I may be wrong, who knows) because the Americans could do something about it, quickly and on their own if need-be.

If we had the man power, we could have a large rapid reaction force on the Iranian border in a matter of days to back up our "let them go or else" threats. I rekon that'd get through the skulls of the Iranians a lot quicker than the so far empty threats of the government.

I definately agree with what you've said there because its pretty much what i've been thinking too.

They wouldn't do that to the Americans. If they did and failed to co-operate, you can bet the rain in that country would consist of nothing but Cruise Missiles and all other sorts of munitions.

Iranians - f*ckers.

EDIT: Sorry, i forgot to mention that the U.K is going to push in the U.N for harsher economic sanctions and play their cards right with other nations in the region for their support to. Hopefully that will work.

[Chas]

Rules of engagement and the size/weaponry of the Iranians
precluded action by the lads and the one girl. What happens
now is open to speculation. I consider it to be another case
of Iranian brinkmanship with an eye to bargaining in the UN.
On the other scenario of any pre-emptive strikes against
nuclear facilities I believe that the USA would grant their
friends the Israelis a clear flight path over Iraq to assist
them in their mission of elimination.
Hopefully this will not happen and there is anyway much
political turmoil within Iran's various political, student and
military factions.

Chas.

[mfat_man]

Rules of engagement and the size/weaponry of the Iranians
precluded action by the lads and the one girl. What happens
now is open to speculation. I consider it to be another case
of Iranian brinkmanship with an eye to bargaining in the UN.
On the other scenario of any pre-emptive strikes against
nuclear facilities I believe that the USA would grant their
friends the Israelis a clear flight path over Iraq to assist
them in their mission of elimination.
Hopefully this will not happen and there is anyway much
political turmoil within Iran's various political, student and
military factions.

Chas.

Worrying times of the friends and families of these servicepeople, but they would have been trained to deal with a hostage situation.

Godspeed to get them back home again.

[digitalfreefall]

Latest News
From The Sunday Times
March 25, 2007

FIFTEEN British sailors and marines arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards off the coast of Iraq may be charged with spying.

A website run by associates of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, reported last night that the Britons would be put before a court and indicted.

Referring to them as “insurgents”, the site concluded: “If it is proven that they deliberately entered Iranian territory, they will be charged with espionage. If that is proven, they can expect a very serious penalty since according to Iranian law, espionage is one of the most serious offences.”

The warning followed claims by Iranian officials that the British navy personnel had been taken to Tehran, the capital, to explain their “aggressive action” in entering Iranian waters. British officials insist the servicemen were in Iraqi waters when they were held.

The penalty for espionage in Iran is death. However, similar accusations of spying were made when eight British servicemen were detained in the same area in 2004. They were paraded blindfolded on television but did not appear in court and were freed after three nights in detention.

Iranian student groups called yesterday for the 15 detainees to be held until US forces released five Revolutionary Guards captured in Iraq earlier this year.

Al-Sharq al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned newspaper based in London, quoted an Iranian military source as saying that the aim was to trade the Royal Marines and sailors for these Guards.

The claim was backed by other sources in Tehran. “As soon as the corps’s five members are released, the Britons can go home,” said one source close to the Guards.

Full Story

[xcj]

They're obviously going to claim they were in Iranian waters, we're obviously going to claim they were in Iraqi waters. In my opinion this fresh threat of trying them for espionage is just to show the world they mean business. I doubt they have any intention of carrying out the threat.

Its clear that they have only siezed them because they have people held by the Americans. Convenient timing. It was a "routine patrol" so if they were in Iranian waters, the Iranians would have siezed a patrol before now. They claim they were in Iranian waters and it becomes a stalemate.

Im just speculating obviously but if they were to carry out the threat, they know aswell as anyone that Britain would do something about it.

[Chas]

Four Points.

It was a deliberate ploy to use as a bargaining point prior
to the UN meeting concerning the Iranian nuclear programme.

They will put our personell under great psychoclogical
pressure with mock executions and other stress related
interrogation methods.

Tit for tat for the Iranian National Guard officers captured
by the US in Iraq. The will now demand their release.

Finally in the long run I envisage the US encouraging the
Israelis to undertake a proxy strike at nuclear facilities.

In conclusion I hope and pray that there will be a speedy
diplomatic resolution to this provocative incident since they
were operating under a UN mandate to stop, board and search.

Chas.

[Stinky]

I was reading about this in the news paper where the Marines were being lead into ditches blindfolded and the Iranians would cock their rifles. And it happened time and time again.

[Pvt Doughnut]

I dont normally make public my feelings on things like this, but in this case I will make an exception.... if ever there was a country in need of a good ass whooping it is Iran!
Aside from the neuclear argument, this is the second time something like this has happened and I just feel that they are pushing their luck.

Anyhow, lets hope for a safe return for our guys out there. Thoughts go out to them.