Posted on 03/28/2007 3:42:33 AM PDT by maquiladora
The Ministry of Defence has presented evidence which shows that the fifteen personnel detained by Iranian authorities on Friday 23 March 2007 were operating in Iraqi waters when they were seized.
The briefing, at defence headquarters in London, was given by Vice Admiral Charles Style, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments). Vice Admiral Style, who is responsible for providing strategic advice to operational commanders, explained in detail where the Royal Navy personnel were located when they were seized:
"The aim of this brief is to provide a factual account of the incident during which fifteen Royal Naval personnel were seized by the Iranians last Friday. By way of background, HMS CORNWALL was in charge of the coalition force, which - alongside the Iraqi Navy - is operating in the Northern Persian Gulf.
"This force maintains the sovereignty and integrity of Iraqi territorial waters under UN Security Council Resolution 1723, and with the approval of the Iraqi Government. The ship – and others in the coalition - maintain a presence patrolling there. They are also charged with protection of the Iraqi offshore oil infrastructure – economically very important - and the security of merchant vessels.
"On 23 March a boarding team consisting of seven Royal Marines and eight sailors - who were embarked in two of HMS CORNWALL's boats - conducted a routine boarding of an Indian flagged Merchant Vessel which was cooperative throughout. They investigated this vessel after witnessing her unloading cars into two barges secured alongside. Since early March the force has conducted 66 routine boardings. So the one that I'm talking about was entirely routine business, and conducted in a particular area where four other boardings have been completed recently.
"As shown on the chart, the merchant vessel was 7.5 nautical miles south east of the Al Faw Peninsula and clearly in Iraqi territorial waters. Her master has confirmed that his vessel was anchored within Iraqi waters at the time of the arrest. The position was 29 degrees 50.36 minutes North 048 degrees 43.08 minutes East. This places her 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi territorial waters. This fact has been confirmed by the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
"The Iranian government has provided us with two different positions for the incident. The first we received on Saturday and the second on Monday. As this map shows, the first of these points still lies within Iraqi territorial waters. We pointed this out to them on Sunday in diplomatic contacts.
"After we did this, they then provided a second set of coordinates that places the incident in Iranian waters over two nautical miles from the position given by HMS CORNWALL and confirmed by the merchant vessel. The two Iranian positions are just under a nautical mile apart – 1800 yards or so. It is hard to understand a reason for this change of coordinates. We unambiguously contest both the positions provided by the Iranians.
"I should just explain at this point that the boats remained connected at this point. One of the seaboats was connected via data link, which communicated its position continually to the ship where it was displayed, superimposed on an electronic chart, on a purpose built console. During the boarding this console was constantly monitored and indicated, throughout, that the boats had remained well within Iraqi territorial waters.
"Our boarding started at 0739 local time and was completed at 0910 with the merchant vessel having been cleared to continue with her business. Communications were lost with the boarding team as the boarding was finishing … at 0910. HMS CORNWALL's Lynx helicopter, which had been covering the initial stages of the boarding, immediately returned to the scene to locate the boarding team.
"The helicopter reported that the two seaboats were being escorted by Iranian Islamic Republican Guard Navy vessels towards the Shatt 'Al Arab Waterway and were now inside Iranian territorial waters. Debriefing of the helicopter crew and a conversation with the master of the merchant ship both indicate that the boarding team were ambushed while disembarking from the merchant vessel. Both boats were equipped with a GPS chart plotter.
"On Sunday morning, 25 March, HMS CORNWALL's Lynx conducted an overflight of the merchant vessel, which was still at anchor, and once again confirmed her location on Global Positioning System equipment. Her Master confirmed that his vessel had remained at anchor since Friday, and was in Iraqi territorial waters.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, my primary message is clear. HMS CORNWALL with her boarding party was going about her legal business – in Iraqi Territorial waters, under a United Nations Security Council Resolution, with the explicit approval of the Iraqi government.
"The action by Iranian forces in arresting and detaining our people is unjustified and wrong. As such it is a matter of deep concern to us and the families of the people who have been taken. We continue not only to call for their safe, but for their safe and speedy, return, and we continue to seek immediate consular access to them as a prelude to their release."
Picture shows GPS location of the incident, as seen from a Royal Navy helicopter over the merchant vessel [Picture: MOD]
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Ok. Now what?
The Iranians know they were in Iraqi waters.
They don't care.
The decisions that led to the capture of the fifteen are never going to be discussed outside of closed Allied doors so any speculation is mute.
These "Pirates of the Persian Coast" need to dealt with severely or they will get the idea that they can act with impunity.
Ugh now they've flipped over to a HRC fund raiser!!!!
""So do the callers think their government is dragging their feet?""
Some do ("send in the SAS" etc etc) Others think they are right in not being too pro active and aggresive.
The Iranians set this up days in advance.
If the Iranians think their GPS coordiences are correct, somebody sold them bad equip. Maybe the rest of their new weapons systems are disfunctional as well?
Yes, although many people have heard Churchill's quote on the eve of WWII, apparently very few have come to fully understand the meaning of 'they have chosen dishonor over war and now they shall have both'. What our Roman Senate fails to realize is that the Iranian leadership wants war. In fact it needs war. That is the same predicament that a Hitler led Germany found itself in. The war with Hitler was inevitable. The war with Iran is inevitable. It cannot be avoided. So to chose dishonor just before an unavoidable war, only gets you both. War and dishonor.
The above is a link on Google Maps to the location.
Here is a trick that will work sometimes. When you go to the above link, notice in the upper right there is a "Link to this Page" button. Click that link and you will notice the URL in the browser will expand to include a more detailed link. Examine the URL and find the "z=" value. This is the zoom level. For this image, the zoom only goes to 10. On some views, you can get the zoom as high as 28 even though the browser control will only take you to a zoom level of 17 or so. The net is, a lot of the Google satellite images have more detail than the browser will show using the zoom control on the page. It depends on the quality of the image Google purchased. They purchase images from a lot of the same sources the military does. There are some images out there where you can literally see people sitting in chairs by their pool.
What station are you listening to?
* Demanded information, access and release on first day of capture.
* COBRA has met everyday.
* Co-ordinates supplied by Iran on where incident took place were inside Iraqi waters.
* UK suggested affair might have been a misunderstanding to the Iranians and hoped for a quick release.
* Iranian have corrected co-ordinates, showing incident taking place in Iranian waters.
* We will continue to press for captives release.
* Iranians have failed to meet any demands.
* Iran should not be in any doubt how seriously we regard this act.
* We will continue diplomatic efforts.
* Now in a new phase of diplomatic activity.
* Imposing freeze on all bilaterial business with Iran.
...agreed!
Agreed but I'd be surprised if anything happens. The Iranians already know they can act with impunity. Where's the outrage? The public is too busy thinking about Al Gore's foolish movie, worrying about the weather and tracking daily presidential opinion polls.
'Correct me if I'm wrong.'
You're wrong.
The British public are very angry about this, but prefer to follow the advice of Winston Churchill on matters of this nature, I quote:
"Jaw, jaw, not war, war."
In this situation we, like our US cousins always explore diplomatic solutions before military ones, especially when we are already thinly spread, militarily, because of Iraq and Afghanistan. When a third front is opened in Iran, it will be because the US and Britain choose to, not because Iran provokes them into it.
I agree, I think Bush is letting the clock run out as the Rats have his hands tied.
Next president will probably be a Democrat. The next president will probably have to deal with an Iranian nuke in one of our cities. Oh well.
Iran was just "testing the waters".
Let's hope their missile targeting proves just as accurate as their navigation - that is to say, in the ocean.
'The ship's commander had to call back to England for permission and it wasn't granted. Furthermore, the sailors and marines in the rubber boats were unarmed.'
Incorrect. The Marines in the party were fully armed, the sailors who search the ships were not. The Commander of HMS Cornwall had to contact the US commander of the gulf task group to ask permission, US Navy Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, who denied it just as it was denied when Iran took US soldiers in 2003.
contd.
* No clear indication where or by whom captives are being held.
* No demands by Iran.
* Iran saying investigations are continuing.
* Commanders have not requested a change in ROE.
* UN involvement under discussion.
This is all well and good but what are the Brits - and us - going to do to get these Marines back? This is an act of war!
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