Iran seizes 3 British ships?

[JIHADTHIS]

Foxnews is reporting that Iran has seized 3 British ships and their crews.....can't find any confirmation anywhere else

 

[Annie]

Originally posted by JIHADTHIS
Foxnews is reporting that Iran has seized 3 British ships and their crews.....can't find any confirmation anywhere else

I see breaking news on Fox, but nothing I can find either.

 

[NightTrain]

If this proves to be true, the Iranians are in for a first class ass kicking.

The Brits are pretty partial to their ships. Oh yeah, and they've got a sizeable force right next door...

 

[JIHADTHIS]

'Three UK vessels seized in Iran'


Iran has seized three British navy vessels that entered its territorial waters near the Iraqi border, according to an Iranian media report.
Eight British sailors on board the vessels were arrested, Iranian naval sources were quoted as saying.

A report on al-Alam satellite TV news said the arrests were made on the Shatt al-Arab river that marks the boundary between Iran and Iraq.

The sources told the TV station that weapons and maps were found on board.

The Ministry of Defence in London said it had no information about the incident and was looking into the reports.


http://www.bbcnews.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iran Confiscates Three British Warships

2 minutes ago


TEHRAN, Iran - Iran confiscated three British warships Monday and arrested eight armed crew members, state-run television reported.



The three British ships — described only as "warships" — entered Iranian territorial waters not far from the Iran-Iraq (news - web sites) border, the Arabic language Al-Alam television reported. The station is part of the state-run Iranian radio and television network.


"Iranian forces confiscated the ships and eight military personnel on board," the report said.


In London, the Ministry of Defense said it was investigating the report but did not know if it was true.


The ministry said there were no British warships operating in the Shat al Arab waterway but some smaller vessels were there.


"We are assisting the Iraqi water police there so it may be one of those vessels," a spokesman said on condition of anonymity. "We don't know."

From AP

 

[Annie]

Originally posted by JIHADTHIS
'Three UK vessels seized in Iran'


Iran has seized three British navy vessels that entered its territorial waters near the Iraqi border, according to an Iranian media report.
Eight British sailors on board the vessels were arrested, Iranian naval sources were quoted as saying.

A report on al-Alam satellite TV news said the arrests were made on the Shatt al-Arab river that marks the boundary between Iran and Iraq.

The sources told the TV station that weapons and maps were found on board.

The Ministry of Defence in London said it had no information about the incident and was looking into the reports.


http://www.bbcnews.com

Gee maps on a ship, earth shattering discovery. Weapons by war zones, ditto.

Face it, the mullahs think they may have pushed too far regarding those nuke facilities. They better not hold them long.

 

[NightTrain]

LOL, what a completely stupid move. Must have been small patrol boats or something, the Brits have a Navy that's second only to the USA.

 

[Annie]

Originally posted by NightTrain
LOL, what a completely stupid move. Must have been small patrol boats or something, the Brits have a Navy that's second only to the USA.

If they were SEALS or the Brit equivalent, they wouldn't get caught.

 

[menewa]

They must be fishing vessels or something and the state run Iranian TV is trying to play it up like they made some big capture. At least I hope that's what happened. I would hate to see more war b/c of the Ayatollah's swelled head.

 

[JIHADTHIS]

Not fishing

....................The ministry said it could not confirm the seizure of the vessels or the detention of the crew, but added that any vessels involved were likely to be patrol boats, not warships. ....................


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3826179.stm

 

[Doc Holiday]

Didn't Iran learn anything from the Falkland Islands? The Brits will come calling wanting their ships and people back and they won't be asking too nicely.

 

[Doc Holiday]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/21/iran.ships/index.html

Iran: British vessels confiscated
Monday, June 21, 2004 Posted: 12:40 PM EDT (1640 GMT)


TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran has confiscated three British vessels that had crossed into Iran's territorial waters and arrested eight sailors aboard the ships, the Iranian foreign ministry says.

The sailors are being interrogated, the ministry said Monday.

The British Ministry of Defense said it lost communications with a team of eight personnel on three small boats. A ministry spokesman said the boats seized are the type used to train the Iraqi river patrol service and to stop smuggling, including the smuggling of Iraqi oil.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq said the three ships were part of a training mission that had departed from Basra in southern Iraq.

A statement from Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the three vessels were in the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates part of Iran from Iraq and crossed into the portion that is Iranian territory.

Iran's Naval officers are instructed to arrest anyone who illegally crosses into the territory, the statement said.

On state-run Al-Alam television, the Iranian government said weapons and maps were confiscated from the British ships.

A British Ministry of Defense spokesman said, "The team that we've lost contact with consisted of three small boats and a total of eight personnel. Indications are that this patrol is the same as is being reported in Iranian press."

The spokesman said the boats are the types used to train the Iraqi river patrol service in the waterway. Each boat carries a maximum of four people.

Relations between Tehran and London have come under strain in recent weeks. Britain has joined other key U.N. members in accusing Iran of being uncooperative with the U.N. nuclear watchdog body. (Full story)


Seems like the British are confirming that it is their people

 

[nycflasher]

Originally posted by Kathianne
Gee maps on a ship, earth shattering discovery. Weapons by war zones, ditto.

Face it, the mullahs think they may have pushed too far regarding those nuke facilities. They better not hold them long.

Stupid, stupid mullahs.
This ought to be interesting, as we add a third country to our list of must-invades. ANyone else think the Persians are testing fate?

 

[Annie]

Originally posted by nycflasher
Stupid, stupid mullahs.
This ought to be interesting, as we add a third country to our list of must-invades. ANyone else think the Persians are testing fate?

I think they were already on the list of 'axis', I don't know about invading....

 

[nycflasher]

Originally posted by Kathianne
I think they were already on the list of 'axis', I don't know about invading....

Oh, I know they were... at some point they might go from a list of 'axis' to a bomb target list.

But, actually, why were the Brits in Iran waters if they were training Iraqis to patrol their waters? Not sure how that waterspace breaks down, border-wise...

 

[SPIKESMYGOD]

Between their not-so-clandestine nuclear program, taunting of the U.S. & the IAEA, and this latest provocative move, it seems as though they are almost spoiling for a fight. If this is the case, they need to look next door & see how close we are to their doorstep. Yes, it will be better if the Iranian people rise up & remove the current despotic, extremist regime, but it is obvious that we are up to the challenge if this is what is needed.

 

[NightTrain]

Since both the USA and Britain have their hands full right now in Iraq, I suppose that this may have been a show of power from Iran.

They have to know they're next in our scope. I don't have any idea as to what they were trying to prove, other than any perceived transgressions would be met with military force.

Perhaps this is a warning that they'll fight fire with fire after Iraq calms down?

 

[Annie]

Ralph Peters has written for Parameters and taught at the Army War College, in addition to writing for the NY Post. Here is his take of what the Iranians may be doing:

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/23536.htm

...isn't about a border violation. It's meant to test the Coalition in Iraq, punish Britain for criticizing Tehran's nuclear quest — and recharge domestic support for Iran's hardliners.
Those eight hostages are pawns in a great strategic game for stakes far beyond the minor scale of the incident itself. Iran's hardliners are gambling. If the West — with London in the lead this time — fails to call their bluff, our weakness will virtually guarantee future conflict in the Persian Gulf.

....seizure appears to have been planned and blessed by hardline leaders. It's a repertoire play, an attempt by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps — now a sprawling empire of repression — to recreate its greatest success on the world stage, the seizure of American embassy personnel a quarter-century ago.

Even if the hostages have been released by the time you read this, the provocation offers us insight into today's divided Iran.

...By snatching the Brits from the waters of the Shatt-al-Arab, the Revolutionary Guards and their allies are trying to excite Iranian nationalism, to resurrect the passions of the past. It's a desperate measure behind a mask of bravado.

It's unlikely that Iran's government leaders or the formal policy apparatus in Tehran knew about the plan to take British hostages — they wouldn't have believed it was worth the risk. The hardliners presented Iran's more rational elements with a fait accompli — now backing down will be portrayed as a betrayal of the country's sovereignty and pride.

...The Iranians know that Tony Blair's government is in political trouble. They're convinced the Brits will be unable to take a firm stand over the hostages. Tehran's hardliners believe they've identified Britain as a new weak link in the alliance.

Sadly, they may be right.

And they're testing the Coalition overall — especially Washington. The Iranians drew their own lessons from our retreat from Fallujah and our stymied efforts in Najaf and Karbala. They believe that America's on the defensive now, that we've lost our will to prosecute any fight to a conclusion, that the looming presidential election has paralyzed us.

They may be right again.

...The Revolutionary Guards have done their homework. They've decided the continental Europeans are all bluster and no substance. They believe that Britain can now be driven toward a European mode of behavior, further isolating the United States. And they suspect that, hardly a year after our devastating military campaign against Saddam's regime, our patience is running out and our will is faltering.

 

[lilcountriegal]

I hadnt heard anything in the news regarding the British sailors arrested in Iran (I probably missed it in the news) so I googled it. This is just a follow-up.

Iran frees detained British sailors
By Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Iran
June 23, 2004

EIGHT British sailors detained by Iran for illegally entering Iranian waters have been released, the country's Foreign Ministry said today, defusing a high-level political dispute.

"The eight British sailors, including six soldiers and two ranking military officials, have been released," a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

The men were detained on Monday in the Shatt al-Arab waterway that runs along the Iran-Iraq border as they were delivering a patrol boat for the new Iraqi Riverine Patrol Service. The waterway is known as the Arvand River in Iran.

A top military official had said the sailors were being released because their intrusion into Iran's waters was apparently a mistake. Two of the sailors had been shown on Iranian TV apologizing and acknowledging they had made a mistake.

Iran had earlier said the men would be prosecuted.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal played a key role in resolving the minor border incident that was turning into a major diplomatic crisis.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had phoned Kharrazi on Tuesday to ask for the release of the sailors, who were shown on Iranian television blindfolded and seated cross-legged on the ground.

The waterway, Iraq's main link with the Persian Gulf that divides Iran and Iraq, has long been a source of tension between the neighbours. The 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war broke out after Saddam Hussein claimed the entire waterway.

Iran said the British vessels were 1,000 meters (yards) inside Iranian territorial waters.

On Tuesday, two sailors were shown on television apologizing for mistakenly entering Iran's territorial waters.

"My name is Sergeant Thomas Harkins from the British Royal Marines. I do apologize for entering Iranian territorial waters," the one said on Al-Alam, an Arabic-language station.

A British government official did not dispute Harkins's name and rank.

The broadcast showed the men standing next to a river and reading from a prepared text. It also showed the three British military patrol boats and weapons it said had been confiscated from the sailors.

British-Iranian relations have run hot and cold for years. The detentions follow a fresh strain after London helped draft a resolution rebuking Iran for past nuclear cover-ups at last week's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors.

Iran says its program is aimed only at producing energy, while the US accuses Tehran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran accused Britain, which it had seen as a partner in the investigation into its nuclear activities, of caving in to US pressure.

Iranians repeatedly demonstrated in front of the British Embassy in Tehran last month, throwing stones at the building to protest the US-led occupation of Iraq. Britain is America's main coalition partner in Iraq.

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9932862^2,00.html