Not to mention the fact that the Iranians had dome this to them before.
If the Brits were unwilling to defend their personnel, those sailors and Marines should never have been sent out. That was their fist mistake.
And note to whichever Brit was running things out there on the waterway that day: Asking for permission was your second mistake.
done, first....
"...If the Brits were unwilling to defend their personnel, those sailors and Marines should never have been sent out. That was their fist mistake..."
Bingo!
Looks like we're being done in by deescalation and our new rules will be in the form of guidelines for swapping prisoners.
Just think of all the money we'll save by switching to rubber replicas that don't shoot.