bugger eh.
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Navy Sailors Arrested In Iran
Navy Sailors Arrested In Iran
just announced in the news today, 8 RN sailors arrested in Iran for tresspassing in Iranian waters. They were in a small patrol boat, going down one of the rivers.
bugger eh.
bugger eh.
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bootneck wrote:Iran frees eight British troops
18:05 AEST Thu Jun 24 2004
AP - Eight British troops held by Iran have been freed and in are in the custody of British diplomats, the foreign office said.
The six Royal Marines and two British sailors, detained on Monday after their boats apparently strayed on to the Iranian side of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that runs along the Iran-Iraq border, were on their way to Tehran with British consular officials, the foreign office said.
"We have them now and we are flying up together with them ... from the place where they've been held up to Tehran," a Foreign Office spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
The spokesman said it was not yet clear what would happen when the troops reached the Iranian capital or where they would go from there, but said they would remain in the care of the British Embassy.
The foreign office had said earlier that three British diplomats were travelling from Tehran to Abadan, a port on the Shatt al-Arab and 90 kilometres west of Mah Shahr, to receive the eight servicemen.
Britain and Iran had given conflicting reports Wednesday of the captives' status, with Iran saying they had been freed and the British Foreign Office rebutting that claim.
Iran had earlier said it would prosecute the British servicemen for illegally entering Iranian territory but softened its position later saying they would be freed if interrogations proved the servicemen had "no bad intention."
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[/quote]bootneck wrote:this is off sky news
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,3 ... 53,00.htmlIRAN HANDS OVER BRITONS
Eight British servicemen held in Iran have been freed.
British diplomats met the group in south-west Iran and travelled with them by plane to the British embassy in the capital Tehran.
The embassy is British sovereign territory.
Iran detained the men after their patrol boats strayed into Iranian coastal waters close to the Iraq border.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the men are in good spirits and well cared for.
Mr Straw said he couldn't say why it took so long to secure the men's release. "These things do sometimes take time," he told reporters in Downing Street, but he was confident that diplomatic relations with Tehran remained intact.
He said the return of the men's equipment, including three boats, was "the subject of further discussions".
Diplomats from the British embassy in Tehran had visited the men in the remote south-western town of Bandar Mahshahr where they have been held since their arrest on Monday.
There had been hopes that they would be released yesterday, but the on-off plans for the handover appeared to have hit an last-minute hitch.
The men were pictured on state television blindfolded again, walking in a line along the shore of the Shatt al Arab waterway.
The row had threatened to develop into a full-blown diplomatic crisis
http://www.itv.com/news/243791.htmlITV NEWS wrote:British servicemen freed by Iranians
10.18AM, Thu Jun 24 2004
Eight Royal Navy servicemen held by Iran have been freed and handed over to a team of British diplomats.
The group boarded a plane in the south west of the country at 8.30am British time and made a 90-minute flight to the Iranian capital Tehran.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "The eight sailors are now in the care of British diplomats."
The men are expected to be taken to the British Embassy but officials have been unable to say whether they would then return to Britain.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw welcomed the men's release.
He said they were "in very good spirits and were well cared for".
Mr Straw said the return of the men's equipment, including three boats, was "the subject of further discussions".
The servicemen were seized on Monday, increasing diplomatic tensions between the countries.
Diplomats and analysts have dozens of theories on Iran's motives for arresting the Britons, ranging from tackling British pressure on Iran's atomic program to an overzealous local commander.
Some suggest Iran is making a show of force, aware that troops from its arch-foe the United States are now deployed on both its eastern and western borders, in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Others say conservatives are flexing their muscles and the British are incidental pawns in a display of willpower from the new hard-line political order who took over parliament from reformists last month.
Television pictures have shown the men blindfolded and marching with their hands on their heads.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle ... 835313.stmBBC NEWS wrote:The eight British servicemen held in Iran since Monday have been released, the UK government has said.
The six Royal Marines and two sailors were flown to Tehran and have now been taken to the British embassy compound in the Iranian capital.
The men were seized in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where they were training the Iraqi river patrol service.
British officials have said that the men may have mistakenly strayed over the maritime border.
The men were released at 0830BST on Thursday and arrived in Tehran around 90 minutes later.
THE SHATT AL-ARAB
120 miles of tidal waterway
Formed by Tigris and Euphrates rivers
Subject to 1639 Persian-Ottoman treaty
Southern stretch forms border between Iraq and Iran
River is vital trade route for both countries
Control of river one of disputes causing Iran-Iraq war in 1980
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw welcomed their release.
"I'm obviously very pleased indeed, as, I know, their families and service colleagues will be, that they are now in British care," he said.
Mr Straw defended the fact that it has taken four days to secure the release of the men.
"These things do sometimes take time," he said.
Downing Street also welcomed the men's release.
"We are glad that the matter has been able to be resolved diplomatically," said Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman.
"The important thing now is to get the servicemen, when they are ready, out of Tehran back to their base in Iraq."
The servicemen are thought to come from two Scotland-based units - Arbroath-based 45 Commando and the Fleet Standby Rifle Troop from Faslane on the Clyde - and from the 539 Assault Squadron in Plymouth, south-west England.
The father of one of the men said he was "absolutely delighted" they had been released.
"It's the news we've been waiting for," said Graham Reid, whose 24-year-old son David was among those detained.
"There were some dark moments over the last few days, especially when we saw them on TV blindfolded, but this is brilliant.
"Hopefully we'll see him either late tonight or early tomorrow, I can't wait to just see him and give him a hug."
Days of talks
Their release follows three days of talks between British diplomats and Iranian officials.
Iran had initially said it would prosecute the men for illegally entering Iranian territory.
The men appeared on Iranian TV wearing blindfolds earlier in the week and admitted entering Iranian waters illegally.
The Shatt al-Arab waterway divides Iran and Iraq
Enlarge Image
British diplomats visited the men on Wednesday. They said they were all fit and well and in pretty good spirits. They said the men were not being kept blindfolded.
The naval launches, the arms and equipment that the British servicemen had with them have not been handed over.
Mr Straw said these would be matters "for further discussion".
The arrests came at a time of strained relations between the UK and Iran.
Iranian hardliners have staged a series of angry demonstrations outside the British embassy in Tehran in recent weeks to protest at the occupation of Iraq.
Britain has also been strongly criticised too for its role in helping draft a tough resolution on Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna last week.
