Posted on 03/23/2007 1:04:28 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The Iranian navy has seized up to 15 British sailors, the Ministry of Defence confirmed today, sparking a diplomatic standoff between the UK and Iran.
...Commodore Kevin Aandahl, of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet - which operates jointly with the British forces off the coast of Iraq - said the UK crew members had been intercepted by several larger patrol boats.
The boats were operated by Iranian sailors belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, a radical force operating separately from the country's usual navy.
Iran has captured British service personnel on the Shatt al-waterway before. Eight crew members from the three boats - sailors and marines who were part of a British team training Iraqi river police - were held by the Iranian authorities in May 2004.
The 120-mile tidal river, dividing Iran and Iraq, has long been a source of tension between the two countries. The 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war broke out after Saddam Hussein claimed the entire waterway, which is Iraq's only water access to the Gulf.
It has also been an important smuggling route for oil illegally exported from Iraq as well as a crossing point for groups opposed to the US-British occupation and seeking to infiltrate Iraq.
Today's incident could further inflame tensions between the UK and Iran at a time when British troops in Basra believe insurgents in southern Iraq are receiving help from Iran in the form of military materiel and advice.
Earlier this week, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said if western countries "want to treat us with threats and enforcement of coercion and violence, undoubtedly they must know that the Iranian nation and authorities will use all their capacities to strike enemies that attack".
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
This happened hours ago. The Brits should have already launched an all out offensive.
This report is a bit more testy.
There was a time when the Brits wouldn't put up with this for a second.
Oops. Wasn't critisizing your post, but rather opining that I'm surprized that the Brits haven't responded with force yet.
or else? Will they be papered to death at the UN?
They requested that Iran give them back.
This is not the first time Iran has captured British sailors.
The last time Iran captured them, put them on TV where they "admitted" that they had illegally strayed into Iran's waters.
They were then released. After which they once again said that they were not in Iran's waters.
Iran is playing bully again. They are making none to subtle threats as they are being called before the UN security council.
Iran knowingly committed an act of war, and an act that shows complete contempt for the UN security council.
The Brits had a frigate right there, and they just let the Iranian navy sail up and abduct their men for the second time in 3 years.
That Frigate had to know that the Iranian ships were in the area, why did it not put itself between those ship and it's boats that were boarding the suspected smugglers? Why did they do nothing to protect their men?
So what does the commander of the Cornwall have to say?
"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 Iranians were in Iraqi waters. How could they "arrest" anyone. They were abducted, but the British don't want to escalate the situation. Therefore Iran knows it can safely take British soldiers hostage right in front of their commander with nothing to fear.
I understand!
What are they going to do? Open up on the boats carrying the captured Navy personnel? It looks like this was Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy. These zealots would kill all onboard the minute any rescue was attempted, or if there was an attempt to stop those vessels. Unfortunately it becomes a diplomatic incident.
With what? Nobody is going to take any military action.
One would have thought that the Cornwall's radar would have picked up the Revolutionary Guard's boats before they surrounded the Brit sailors. And where were our F-18 Hornets?
This seems to indicate that the British are the new "French".
If I were Britain I would have done something by now. The commander of the Cornwall would be relieved of duty. Britain should have declared war.
You can't tell me that they snuck up on them.
The frigate should have positioned itself between the Iranian ships and their boats that were boarding the suspected smuggler.
This is not the first time the Iranian navy has done this.
Iran is performing military exercises, which I'm sure we are monitoring carefully.
I cannot imagine that the Cornwall didn't know where the Iranian navy was well in advance of them approaching their boats.
And where were our F-18 Hornets?
Probably waiting for the Cornwall to give them the word.
BTTT!
What the Iranians are doing is bending the Brits over in public and punking them so hard that the Brits are putting on lipstick and a skirt after they're done.
There is an easy solution to this. Blow up an oil well. Only one.
Then tell Iran, if you do not release the sailors in 24 hours, you will no longer be an oil producing country. Then blow up another oil well.
The only excuse he could have is that his superiors ordered him to hold his position. Although at that point he should have recalled his boats. He may have tried to do that. They did report that they lost communication with the boarding party. I'm not sure why that would have happened, radio waves travel well over watter. Maybe their communications were actively jammed.
If that were the case, he should have immediately gone and gotten his people.
The Iranian ships should not have gotten anywhere near his boarding party without him positioning his frigate between them.
Somebody screwed up badly.
Britain should have declared war.
And we should live up to our NATO obligations and follow their lead.
Exactly...How were enemy vessels able to get any where near the Brits??? Especially since it's happened before...
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