News & Politics - British sailors captured by Iran

Lexis · 03-23-2007, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Naval forces of
Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards captured 15 British sailors and marines at gunpoint Friday in the Persian Gulf — a provocative move coming during heightened tensions between the West and Iran.
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U.S. and British officials said a boarding party from the frigate HMS Cornwall was seized about 10:30 a.m. during a routine inspection of a merchant ship inside Iraqi territorial waters near the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway.

Iran's Foreign Ministry insisted the Britons were operating in Iranian waters and would be held "for further investigation," Iranian state television said.

A
U.S. Navy official in Bahrain, Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl, said Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval forces were responsible and had broadcast a brief radio message saying the British party was not harmed.

In London, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador to the Foreign Office, and Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said he "was left in no doubt that we want them back."

Iranian TV quoted an Iranian Foreign Ministry official as saying the top British diplomat in Tehran had been called in to receive Tehran's protest of the "illegal entry" into Iranian waters.

"This is not the first time that British military personnel during the occupation of
Iraq have entered illegally into Iran's territorial waters," the unidentified official was quoted as saying.

Britain's Defense Ministry said the Royal Navy personnel were "engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters" and had completed a ship inspection when they were accosted by Iranian vessels.

The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines were part of a task force that protects Iraqi oil terminals and maintains security in Iraqi waters under authority of the
U.N. Security Council.

The Cornwall's commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, said the frigate lost communication with the boarding party, but a helicopter crew saw Iranian naval vessels approach.

"I've got 15 sailors and marines who have been arrested by the Iranians and my immediate concern is their safety," he told British Broadcasting Corp. television.

...

The incident occurred as the U.N. Security Council debates expanding sanctions against Iran seeking to force Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment. The U.S. and other nations suspect Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons. Iran denies that and insists it won't halt the program.

Britain demands Iran free seized sailors - Yahoo! News

Hmm, and which country just happens to have a seat on the Security Council? Talk about sabre rattling.

migamoo · 03-23-2007, 02:28 PM

So, is this more of a he-said/she-said thing? From what I can tell from reading, the Britons did not think they were in Iranian waters while the Iranians did. Or, maybe I'm just confused.

Lexis · 03-24-2007, 01:54 AM

Well, according to the US who were monitoring the sea traffic, the Brits were in Iraqi waters, the same waters they have been operating it for months with no problem. What also looks a little fishy is the fact that the British boats were taken by about 6 Iranian boats - the suggestion being that they were waiting for them. It is a disputed area but I think the timing and chain of events is just a little to convenient.

It makes my blood boil - I heard on the news that the last sailors they captured they took out to fields, stood in front of ditches, blindfolded then cocked their rifles at the back of their heads - all to make them confess to being spys. Plus, they paraded them on television.

This kind of thing just gets people steamed up - its not doing Iran any favors in the court of public opinion.

migamoo · 03-24-2007, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lexis (View Post)

Well, according to the US who were monitoring the sea traffic, the Brits were in Iraqi waters, the same waters they have been operating it for months with no problem. What also looks a little fishy is the fact that the British boats were taken by about 6 Iranian boats - the suggestion being that they were waiting for them.

Interesting. I mean, we would have told them if they were traveling too far out, and they would have turned around.

Quote:

This kind of thing just gets people steamed up - its not doing Iran any favors in the court of public opinion.

Too true.

Lexis · 03-26-2007, 06:36 AM

Things get worse. The Iranians are refusing to allow British diplomats to see the the sailors/marines or tell them where they are and are now threatening to charge them with entering Iranian waters illegally.

If they don't let them go, I really hope the government comes down on Iran like a ton of bricks, harsher sanctions and all. Its just ridiculous - I dread to think what those service personnel are going through and their poor families. Seriously, not een letting the diplomats see if they are indeed uninjured and healthy.

migamoo · 03-26-2007, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Iran softens stance on British sailors - Yahoo! News

TEHRAN, Iran -Iran said Monday it was questioning 15 British sailors and marines to determine if their alleged entry into Iranian waters was "intentional or unintentional" before deciding what to do with them — the first sign it could be seeking a way out of the standoff.

The two countries continued to disagree about where the military personnel were seized Friday, with Britain insisting they were in Iraqi waters after searching a civilian cargo vessel and the Tehran regime saying it had proof they were in Iranian territory.

Britain's Defense Ministry said they were seized in the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway flowing into the Persian Gulf that marks the border between Iran and
Iraq. But the dividing line in the waterway, known in Iran as the Arvand river, has long been disputed.

The Iranian emphasis Monday on the detainees' intent was a noticeable pullback from the certainty expressed Saturday by Iran's military chief, Gen. Ali Reza Afshar. Afshar said then that the 15 confessed to "aggression into the Islamic Republic of Iran's waters."

Other Iranian officials suggested afterward that the Britons might be charged with a crime — presumably espionage or trespassing — for knowingly entering Iran's territorial waters.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mehzi Mostafavi took a softer line Monday while saying that the 14 men and one woman were still being interrogated.

"It should become clear whether their entry was intentional or unintentional. After that is clarified, the necessary decision will be made," Mostafavi said.

Iran has refused to say where the captured Britons were being held or to allow British officials to speak with them, but assured the British ambassador to Tehran, Geoffrey Adams, that they were in good health.

During an official visit to Turkey on Monday, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett called for Iran to allow access to the captives. "We will continue to press the Iranian authorities until the incident has been resolved with the safe return of our personnel and their equipment," she said.

In London, Iranian Ambassador Rasoul Movahedian was summoned to the British Foreign Office for the third time since the standoff began. Lord Triesman, Foreign Office undersecretary, again demanded the safe return of the detained personnel, the Foreign Office said.

There were fears in Britain that the fate of the 15 could get caught up in the political tensions between Tehran and the West, including the dispute over Iran's nuclear program and accusations of Iranian help to Shiite militants in Iraq.

In particular, there were worries Iran might seek to use the prisoners as leverage in trying to get the U.S. to free at least five Iranians detained in Iraq for allegedly being part of a Revolutionary Guard force that provides funds, weapons and training to Iraqi Shiite militias.

Mostafavi denied Iran was seeking a trade, but there were calls from elsewhere within Iran's leadership for the government to hold out for a swap.

A Web site run by Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of the Expediency Council and a former Revolutionary Guard commander, quoted an unidentified lawmaker as saying, "If Iranian diplomats in Iraq have no security, there's no reason why we should forgive and turn a blind eye to aggressors into Iranian territories."

Some members of the Iranian public also called for the British sailors and marines to be held and tried. Hundreds of Iranian students demonstrated near the coast to urge a tough stand in the confrontation with the West.

British leaders sought to play down fears the situation could escalate or become entangled with the other disputes.

"This is a matter that should be dealt with on its own merits ... and that is how we are approaching it," British Prime Minister
Tony Blair's office said.

Iran's ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Baghdad that there was no connection between the capture of the British sailors and marines and other disputes between the West and Iran.

"They entered Iranian territorial waters and were arrested," Qomi said. "It has nothing to do with other issues."

A 1975 treaty between Iran and Iraq set their border as running down the center of the Shatt al-Arab, but
Saddam Hussein canceled the treaty before invading Iran in 1980 and setting of a devastating war. Iran claims the border runs along the deepest parts of the river.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabi said the
United Nations had not become involved in the current dispute. "This matter is between the countries involved," she said.

Calls for the release of the Britons also came from the
European Union, Iraq and the United States, under whose command the military search team was serving when it was captured.

On Monday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki that the personnel were seized in Iraqi waters and said they should be released.

Meanwhile, Iranian state TV said Iran was open to negotiations over its nuclear program despite its decision to partially cut cooperation with the U.N. atomic watchdog agency in response to the
U.N. Security Council's vote Saturday to approve additional sanctions on Tehran.

"Iran looks at negotiations as the only solution to the nuclear case," it said.

The sanctions are meant to persuade Iran to suspend uranium enrichment as demanded by the council and underline its growing international isolation. The United States has warned of even tougher penalties if Tehran doesn't comply.

Well, I think that is a bit of good news, albeit ambiguous.

**sunnykerr** · 03-27-2007, 05:47 AM

I must say, I don't think Iran's got much of a leg to stand on. The point is that, even if they did enter "on purpose," which is debatable, you don't just up and "seize" human beings.

Lexis · 03-28-2007, 07:20 AM

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Britain said it was freezing talks on all other issues with
Iran until it freed 15 Royal Navy crew members seized last week, and the British military released what it said was proof its boats were within Iraqi territorial waters when they were seized.
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Iran's foreign minister said meanwhile a female British sailor held captive by Iran may be released later Wednesday or on Thursday, a Turkish TV station reported.

"The woman soldier is free either today or tomorrow," CNN-Turk television quoted Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki as saying on the sidelines of an Arab summit meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the woman, identified as sailor Faye Turney, 26, had been given privacy.

Britain's military said its vessels were 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters when Iran seized the sailors and marines on Friday.

Vice Adm. Charles Style told reporters that the Iranians had provided a position on Sunday — a location that he said was in Iraqi waters. By Tuesday, Iranian officials had given a revised position 2 miles east, placing the British inside Iranian waters — a claim he said was not verified by global positioning system coordinates.

"It is hard to understand a legitimate reason for this change of coordinates," Style said.

Style gave the satellite coordinates of the British crew as 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north latitude and 048 degrees 43.08 minutes east longitude, and said it had been confirmed by an Indian-flagged merchant ship boarded by the sailors and marines.

Prime Minister
Tony Blair told the House of Commons that "there was no justification whatever ... for their detention, it was completely unacceptable, wrong and illegal."

Britain presses Iran; woman may be freed - Yahoo! News

I'm glad the female might be getting release but I want them all sent back to the British soon. I really don't know what the hell the Iranians think they are doing.

welshgirlyUK · 03-28-2007, 10:56 AM

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TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian state TV showed video Wednesday of the 15 British sailors and marines who were seized last week, including a female captive who wore a white tunic and a black head scarf and said the British boats "had trespassed" in Iranian waters.

The British government protested Iran's broadcast of the captured crew as "completely unacceptable." The British military had earlier released what it called proof that its boats were in the territorial waters of Iraq — not Iran — when they were seized.

Before the video was broadcast, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said any showing of British personnel on TV would be a breach of the Geneva Conventions.

"It's completely unacceptable for these pictures to be shown on television," the British Foreign Office said in a statement after the broadcast. "There is no doubt our personnel were seized in Iraqi territorial waters."

The statement also demanded that British diplomats be given immediate access to them as a "prelude" to their release.

Britain earlier said it was freezing most contacts with Iran until it freed all the crew members.

Britain's military said its vessels were 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters when Iran seized the sailors and marines on Friday after they completed a search of a civilian vessel in the Iraqi part of the Shatt al-Arab waterway. The border between Iran and Iraq has been disputed for centuries.

Vice Adm. Charles Style told reporters that the Iranians had provided a position on Sunday — a location that he said was in Iraqi waters. By Tuesday, Iranian officials had given a revised position two miles east, placing the British inside Iranian waters — a claim he said was not verified by global positioning system coordinates.

"It is hard to understand a legitimate reason for this change of coordinates," Style said.

Style gave the satellite coordinates of the British crew as 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north latitude and 048 degrees 43.08 minutes east longitude, and said it had been confirmed by an Indian-flagged merchant ship boarded by the sailors and marines.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki denied this, saying, "That's not true. It happened in Iranian territorial waters."

Mottaki also told The Associated Press in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that Turney would be released Wednesday or Thursday, and he suggested that the British vessels' alleged entry into Iranian waters may have been a mistake.

"This is a violation that just happened. It could be natural. They did not resist," he told the AP.

"Today or tomorrow, the lady will be released," Mottaki said Wednesday on the sidelines of an Arab summit in the Saudi capital, referring to Turney, the only woman among the 15.

The Iranian Embassy in London also said: "We are confident that Iranian and British governments are capable of resolving this security case through their close contacts and cooperation."

Britain's military said its vessels were 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters when Iran seized the sailors and marines on Friday.

Vice Adm. Charles Style told reporters that the Iranians had provided a position on Sunday — a location that he said was in Iraqi waters. By Tuesday, Iranian officials had given a revised position two miles east, placing the British inside Iranian waters — a claim he said was not verified by global positioning system coordinates.

"It is hard to understand a legitimate reason for this change of coordinates," Style said.

Style gave the satellite coordinates of the British crew as 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north latitude and 048 degrees 43.08 minutes east longitude, and said it had been confirmed by an Indian-flagged merchant ship boarded by the sailors and marines.

Mottaki denied this, saying, "That's not true. It happened in Iranian territorial waters."

Britain and the United States have said the crew was intercepted after completing a search of a civilian vessel in the Iraqi part of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where the border between Iran and Iraq has been disputed for centuries.

Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons that "there was no justification whatever ... for their detention, it was completely unacceptable, wrong and illegal."

"We had hoped to see their immediate release; this has not happened. It is now time to ratchet up the diplomatic and international pressure in order to make sure the Iranian government understands its total isolation on this issue," Blair said.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said she had suspended bilateral talks on all other issues with Tehran until the 15 were released. Visits by officials will be stopped, issuing visas to Iranian officials suspended and British support for events such as trade missions put on hold, her office said.

"No one should be in any doubt about the seriousness with which we regard these events," Beckett told the House of Commons.

Beckett said Britain had now begun a "new phase of diplomatic activity," following Iran's failure to release the sailors and marines, or allow British officials access.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal had offered support, Beckett said.

Blair said he believed the crew acted sensibly in not putting up a fight after being confronted by six Iranian vessels.

"If they had engaged in military combat at that stage, there would have undoubtedly been severe loss of life. I think they took the right decision and did what was entirely sensible," Blair said.

In Iran, the announcement by a newscaster on Al-Alam satellite TV on the planned broadcast of the video of the captives did not specify when it would be shown. Al-Alam is an Arabic-language, Iranian state-run television station that is carried across the Middle East.

Iran had promised British officials in talks that it would not show the sailors on television as it did with a group captured in 2004 — a senior British foreign office diplomat said earlier Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with British government rules.

Iran has said the 15 were being treated well, but refused to say where they were being held, or rule out the possibility that they could be brought to trial for allegedly entering Iranian waters.

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the Britons were being treated well.

"They are in completely good health. Rest assured that they have been treated with humanitarian and moral behavior," Hosseini told the AP.

In talks with Mottaki, Beckett demanded that British diplomats be allowed to meet with the crew to make their own assessment.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Iran's behavior was "fully unacceptable" and assured Britain of its full support in negotiations to win their release.

"The EU finds it fully unacceptable that 15 British troops have been captured and detained by Iran. We extend our absolute support and solidarity with Britain on this issue," Merkel told the European Parliament

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I just dont understand what there gaining from this. There ruining relations with not only Britain but making there relationship tense with other countries too over it. There not doing themselves any favours with this.

Lexis · 03-29-2007, 06:07 AM

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Iran may delay the release of the female British sailor if Britain takes the issue to the
U.N. Security Council or freezes relations, the country's top negotiator Ali Larijani said Thursday. The Foreign Office in London, meanwhile, said Britain is seeking condemnation of Iran at the
United Nations.

Britain seeks U.N. condemnation of Iran - Yahoo! News

According to the BBC, the Iranians are saying they won't release her because of the "incorrect" behavior of the British government. They also accuse Britain of making a "fuss" and causing a "furore" about this.

I'm not being funny but what the hell did they expect? I know we keep saying it but what is Iran gaining from this? They are just getting people angry and making themselves look completely ridiculous.

**TheAngel** · 03-29-2007, 03:04 PM

Think about it. British invasion or Iran, or any military action against Iran for that matter, gives their sick and twisted minds authorization to use force against other countries, including and not limited to nuclear arms. Also, if there is a conflict they know the US is going to get involved, because for some reason even though people don't like the US's current conflict they sure as hell like to ask for US help, which will spread US military forces even thinner than they are already and create tension at home, creating a political rift even deeper than the one we have now. They're playing a complicated game of chess and are waiting to see how Britain moves next.

welshgirlyUK · 03-30-2007, 05:51 AM

I think Britain are actually trying as best as possible to stay away from military conflict right now. Hence the talks with the European Union and putting pressure on other EU countries to speak out in protest of this as for example Germany who already have. The goverment at the moment appear to be working more with Europe than the US over this. But thats just the impression i'm getting from the media. And well we obvioulsy have no idea what really is going on, i'm sure the SAS are Britains first port of call

Lexis · 03-30-2007, 06:51 AM

I think the US being too far in front of this situation would be counter productive. Their relations with Iran are probably worse than ours so it seems wiser to try and get countries with closer ties to help weigh in on this. I heard the French foreign minister called in the Iranian ambassador to urge the release.

But Iran seem heading down this path regardless - another letter from the female sailor has been released and one of the male prisoners has also been shown on teleiison apologising for going into Iranian waters.

One of the BBC's analyst Frank Gardner (this guy really knows his stuff) has said that upon looking at the letters, it seems apparent that they were written in Iranian, translated into English and then Faye Turney was forced to copy them down. Its all in the linguistic quirks etc.

welshgirlyUK · 04-04-2007, 08:33 AM

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he has pardoned and will free the 15 British naval personnel held by Iran as a "gift to Britain".

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At a news conference in Tehran, he also theatrically awarded medals to the coastguards he said had captured the sailors and marines.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "We welcome what the President has said about the release of our 15 personnel. We are now establishing exactly what this means in terms of the method and timing of their release."

Mr Ahmadinejad said his government would release the detained 15 British sailors and marines promptly.

An Iranian official in London later said the sailors would be handed over to British diplomats and that it would then be up to the Foreign Office to decide how they would return home.

Mr Ahmadinejad said he had pardoned the sailors as a gift to the British people and to mark the birthday of Islam's Prophet Mohammed and Easter.

I think i'll reserve my positivity and glee over this until they follow through with what there saying and the 14 men and 1 woman are safely with british officials

Lexis · 04-04-2007, 10:33 AM

Me too. When they land back in the UK, then I'll relax. Its quite a shocking decision - first he pins medals on the guards that captured the Brits, then he releases them.


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