Iran seizes British Navy Personnel in Iraqi Waters

Earlier Iran said it would release Leading Seaman Turney "very soon".

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said she would be released on Wednesday or Thursday.

squinney wrote:

The British may have been testing the waters.so to speak.

In response to this "test", the US Navy is conducting war games in the nearby waters.

i certainly feel sorry for those fifteen british sailors and marines .
i'm wondering if someone hasn't involved them in a dangerous game of playing "chicken" .
since the landing party came from a british warship (frigate ?) and was also accompanied by a helicopter , i would guess that british naval command must have been aware of the iranian warship .
so why would they send a small cutter into the unknown ?
why would the british warship not have made the interception or at least stayed close enough to lend fire support ?
in the end it was all for nothing anyway because nothing was seized by the british .
imo both sides were trying to "outsmart" each other - and the weaker party lost out ... and fifteen british sailors are now in iranian captivity .

i sure hope those fifteen will be released soon and won't have to suffer for someone else's stupidity - or at least a poorly planned and executed
action .

The officer at the Ministry of Defence justified the lack of reaction by the British personnel. Their rules of engagement, he said, were adequate for self-defence, but they were taken by surprise as they left the ship they had inspected.

Two Iranian boats with far heavier weapons - rocket launchers and heavy machine guns against rifles and pistols - came alongside after indicating a friendly attitude.

Communications were lost immediately and then the two British boats were escorted by the Iranians and about four other Iranian boats "swarmed" in.


Some gaps in British preparations were evident from what the officer said. A Lynx helicopter monitoring the boarding had returned to the mother ship HMS Cornwall, which could not get nearer because of shallow water, and by the time the Cornwall realised what has happening, the British were on the Iranian side.

Iranian boats had about "three minutes" in which they made their approach, according to the officer, but nobody on the British side saw them.

Mr Blair said the attitude of the British personnel had been "entirely sensible". If they had fired, there would "undoubtedly have been severe loss of life".

There is somthing very fishy going on. HMS Cornwall is a state of the art ship with a radar tracking system that would have seen the iranian boats as they left port. Why did the captain of HNS Cornwall not go to cut off the iranians?. Why did the gemini boats not fight or at least run away when they saw the six boats coming?. No RN captain would send its people out without protection!!!. Either the captain is an incompetant fool OR he was ordered to stand by and do nothing!!!!!?????

Beryl Hutchinson, larnaca, Cyprus

Iran has offered to let UK officials visit the 15 Royal Navy personnel who were captured in the Gulf on Friday.

Iran's foreign minister also said the only woman being held, Faye Turney, who has been interviewed on Iranian state television, could be released.

However, he added the stand-off would be resolved only if the UK admitted that the sailors and marines had been in Iranian waters, which it denies.

By using the phrase "whining impotently" Brandon, you imply that the British government should be viewed in a bad light for how they've dealt with the situation so far.

May I point out that

1. Iran is not as "third world" as you think. Their crack troops are fanatical, well armed, well trained and the British sailors are probably being hidden away somewhere pretty remote, possibly even split into several groups in far flung places by now following their TV appearance.

2. Rescue missions are high risk affairs, both diplomatically and in front line reality. Think "Black Hawk down" as a possible scenario. That would help no-one and possibly run the risk of starting a full blown war with Iran.


3. The British are not known for holding back when it comes to launching special rescue missions and cannot by any stretch of the imagination be considered as reluctant to fight, but also seem to have the sense to persue all diplomatic routes before getting gung ho.

4. Whilst we are all discussing this, with some people casting doubt as to whether the British have the right approach when it comes to solving this problem, there are probably several special forces groups SAS SBS etc already in situ and just waiting for the word to go.

At this moment in time regarding the hotbed that is the middle east, the last thing that is needed is a high profile cavalry charge.
It should be solved as quietly and as diplomatically as possible, in my opinion. It will then quickly become yesterday's news, as opposed to playing directly into the hands of fanatics who are just looking for any excuse to stoke the fire.

Brandon only approves of a show of force.... as long as it's a show of force he can watch from the sidelines and arm chair general. :wink:

Then do it swiftly, economically and totally and tell anyone who doesn't like it to go f**k themselves.

But this spending a few million dollars to start up the fleet, pull up to the border and moon them is expensive and stupid.