The bigger question is why didn' the Cornwall help our her marines in the rubber rafts when they saw the iranian boats approaching? It is even possible that one of the best equipped, modern ships on the high seas somehow "missed" the approach of the Iranian vessels? Those Iranian boats had to have been tracked for a long time, long before they overran the Royal Marines in rubber rafts. Just how far away from the mother frigate do you think those rubber rafts were? Something really stinks here.
Its really very easy to see why HMS Cornwall was told to stand down: a shooting conflict with Iran would spike
oil prices and send the capital markets south.
Those wanting to launch strikes on the Islamic Republic
either aren't thinking through the consequences, or don't
care.