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Iran confiscated 3 British naval vessels in its waters
Quote:
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran has confiscated three British vessels that had crossed into Iran's territorial waters and arrested eight sailors aboard the ships, according to Iranian state television.
The Iranian government confiscated weapons and maps from the ships on Monday as well, the Arabic language Al-Alam television reported.
"Iranian forces confiscated the ships and eight military personnel on board," the report said.
Al-Alam said crew members were carrying maps and weapons, The Associated Press reported.
It also said the ships were confiscated at about 11 a.m. between the Bahmanshir and Arvand rivers, which would put them in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway east of the Iraqi city of Faw, AP reported.
The broadcast gave no further details.
A Ministry of Defense spokesman said Britain had no war ships operating in Shatt al-Arab waterway between Iran and Iraq, although it did have some small patrols operating in the vicinity.
The spokesman said Britain did not know of any patrols that had been seized or confiscated and had not heard of any arrests.
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.
What would SAS be doing there? Even if they made an error, why would they be near that area of Iraq, ostensibly on an op? If they are SAS, I'd think they were about to enter Iran for some covert op. I certainly hope that's not true.
Originally posted by jesseenglish 8 sailors on three boats. What, were they canoes or something?
That is exactly what I was thinking. Besides, if that English armada crossed into Iranian territorial waters wouldn't Iran have the right to at least detain the boats/sailors to find out what they were doing? The report does not say how far they crossed. If they were only a few hundred feet then I can see the fuss but if the were like 100 yards from shore....
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Where are we going? ......and why am I in this handbasket?
Originally posted by WashUJon What would SAS be doing there? Even if they made an error, why would they be near that area of Iraq, ostensibly on an op? If they are SAS, I'd think they were about to enter Iran for some covert op. I certainly hope that's not true.
Just surmising why only 8 men were manning three boats. I hope I am wrong, for their sake.
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Eight members of the British military arrested for crossing into Iranian waters could be freed "very soon" if it is established they did not have "bad intentions," Iran's student news agency ISNA quoted a top Iranian military official as saying.
The eight -- two sailors and six Marines -- were detained after three British boats crossed into Iran's territorial waters in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, Iran's Foreign Ministry said.
The waterway divides Iran and Iraq and has long been a source of tension between the Gulf neighbors.
The ministry said the Iranian Navy confiscated weapons and maps along with the ships when the vessels were stopped Monday. The crew members were being interrogated, the ministry said.
Iranian media Tuesday also reported that Tehran might put the eight on trial.
"They will be prosecuted for illegally entering Iranian territorial waters," Iran's state-run Arabic language Al-Alam television reported.
"The vessels were 1,000 meters inside Iranian territorial waters. The crew have also confessed to having entered Iranian waters," the broadcast said.
But a spokesman for the British Foreign Ministry in London said the UK government had not "been told definitively that these people are going to be prosecuted."
"We are in constant contact with the Iranians to get the matter resolved," the spokesman said.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi early Tuesday before reports surfaced that the sailors and Marines might be prosecuted, a UK Foreign Office representative said.
Kharrazi assured Straw that "he will look into it personally," a Foreign Office spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the British government in London summoned Iran's ambassador, demanding the sailors' release.
Officials asked Ambassador Morteza Sarmadi to explain why Iranian guards had arrested the sailors in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway, the Foreign Office said.
"The ambassador was asked to explain why the eight are being held, for their release as soon as possible and for full consular access to them meanwhile," the Foreign Office said in a statement.
"He was asked for information on the reports that they will be prosecuted and told they were on a routine mission."
A British official said Sarmadi had offered no immediate clarification.
"It was a one-way conversation, an opportunity for us to put our concerns across and for him to listen," he told Reuters.
British officials in Iran also were working hard to prevent Monday's arrest from escalating into a diplomatic crisis. Richard Dalton, the British ambassador in Tehran, was trying to resolve the situation with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The incident was likely to place further strain on London and Tehran after Britain last week joined other key U.N. members in accusing Iran of being uncooperative with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. (Full story)
The British Ministry of Defense said the eight crew members, based in southern Iraq, were detained by Iran while delivering a boat from Umm Qasr to Basra.
The team members were traveling in three boats, two Boston Whalers and one British Army Combat Support Boat, the ministry said in a written statement.
The boats were unarmed but the crews were carrying personal weapons, the statement said.
"We can confirm that eight Royal Navy personnel from the Royal Navy training team based in southern Iraq have been detained by the Iranian authorities while delivering a boat from Umm Qasr to Basra," a statement from the defense ministry said.
A defense ministry spokesman said the boats are the types used to train the Iraqi river patrol service in the waterway.
Iranian media Tuesday reported that the British boats had entered Iran's territorial waters illegally and had gotten too close to an oil jetty near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
A statement from Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran's naval officers had instructions to arrest anyone who illegally crossed into the territory.
Iraq and Iran share the waterway, with their respective borders meeting in the middle. The waterway is Iraq's main link with the Persian Gulf.
The 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war broke out when then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein claimed the entire waterway.
The british troops have been released, but the Iranians kept the boats. Now I ask you, what do they want with the boats?? They're not even warships...they're just boats!
Pete (wonders about them clerics sometimes)
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"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." --Thomas Jefferson
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran has said it will free eight British sailors detained in territorial waters, but there were conflicting reports surrounding the timing of their release.
Iran's Foreign Ministry was quoted by Western news services as saying the sailors had been freed on Wednesday.
But there were also reports that their release had been delayed until a British delegation could arrive to meet the sailors in southwestern Iran, where they were being held.
Iran began making plans to free the sailors after it was convinced they crossed into an off-limits section of the Persian Gulf by mistake, Iran's state-run news agency IRNA said.
IRNA quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi as saying the two sailors and six Marines would be freed on Wednesday.
"It became clear for us that the detained British military men had no ill-intention, and they will be released on Wednesday," IRNA quoted Kharrazi as saying.
Britain's Foreign Ministry confirmed that Iran had officially notified London of the imminent release.
The Associated Press and the UK Press Association quoted a spokeswoman for Iran's Foreign Ministry as saying: "The eight British sailors, including six soldiers and two ranking military officials, have been released."
She said that while they were no longer detained, the sailors had not yet been handed over to British authorities, AP reported. She gave no further details.
Meanwhile, Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam satellite television said the sailors' release would likely be delayed until Thursday, Reuters reported.
"Taking decisions on releasing the detained troops is likely to be delayed to Thursday as there is not enough time, because the delegation will arrive late tonight to the region," the channel said, quoting one of its correspondents.
A British Foreign Ministry spokesman told CNN a delegation of diplomats has arrived in southwest Iran to take custody of the detainees after their release.
The diplomats landed in Khuzestan in southwest Iran from the capital Tehran and were headed to Bandar Mahshahr, a petrochemical center, Reuters reported.
"We have just landed in Ahvaz," Reuters quoted a diplomat as saying from the provincial capital of Khuzestan, the oil-rich province on the Iraqi border.
Originally posted by plezercruz The british troops have been released, but the Iranians kept the boats. Now I ask you, what do they want with the boats?? They're not even warships...they're just boats!
Pete (wonders about them clerics sometimes)
They're just trying to make sure everyone knows who's boss; especially since they're not!
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"I was always taught to respect my elders, but it keeps getting harder to find one." - Ronny
Iran confiscated 3 British naval vessels in its waters
That is exactly what I was thinking. Besides, if that English armada crossed into Iranian territorial waters wouldn't Iran have the right to at least detain the boats/sailors to find out what they were doing? The report does not say how far they crossed. If they were only a few hundred feet then I can see the fuss but if the were like 100 yards from shore....
It was a good excuse for me to learn something.
