***Iran Nabs British Sailors in Iraq Waters......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.
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."....***
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032300574.html
She is a very capable Batch 3 Type 22 Frigate that should have been able to see the Iranian gunboats coming and should have been able to protect her crew. She has an embarked helo too.
Do they have rules of engagement that prevent them from protecting their own from siezure? Was she not close enoogh (and if so, given the history, why not)? Where was she?
