British sailors arrested at gunpoint by Iranian navy.

[midget-boyd91]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6484279.stm

Fifteen British Navy personnel have been captured at gunpoint by Iranian forces, the Ministry of Defence says.
The men were seized at 1030 local time when they boarded a boat in the Gulf, off the coast of Iraq, which they suspected was smuggling cars.

The Royal Navy said it was doing everything it could to secure the release of the sailors and marines who are based on HMS Cornwall.

They were said to be carrying out a routine patrol in Iraqi waters.

The Ministry of Defence said: "The group boarding party had completed a successful inspection of a merchant ship when they and their two boats were surrounded and escorted by Iranian vessels into Iranian territorial waters.

"We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level.

"The British government is demanding the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment."

It is understood the men being held are safe and well.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has summoned the Iranian ambassador in London to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in an attempt to get the sailors and marines released as quickly as possible.

In a statement, leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell, also called for their immediate release.

"Whatever the rights and wrongs of military action, British forces in Iraq are now there with the authority of a UN security council resolution... and the Iranian government should be left in no doubt of the serious implications of their action," he said.

In 2004, Iran detained eight British servicemen for three days after they allegedly strayed over the maritime border.

The UK claimed the men were "forcibly escorted" into Iranian territorial waters.

Isnt this great.. just what we all needed to calm things down.

 

[tomahawk6]

I cant believe the UK frigate commander allowed the Iranians to take his boarding party. He needs to be relieved ASAP. His lack of decision action now will see the Iranians demand the release of captured Iranians in Iraq in exchange for these personnel.Hope I am wrong. This is the second such incident involving Iranian interference with UK military personnel.

 

[GAP]

I cant believe the UK frigate commander allowed the Iranians to take his boarding party. He needs to be relieved ASAP. His lack of decision action now will see the Iranians demand the release of captured Iranians in Iraq in exchange for these personnel.Hope I am wrong. This is the second such incident involving Iranian interference with UK military personnel.

I agree with the sentiments, but not being there, we don't know if he was outgunned, had no backup, etc, etc......Sure sounds like Iran is determined to stir things up.

 

[tomahawk6]

A commander is responsible for protecting his crew. If the commander had fired a few shots across the bow of the Iranian vessels they probably would have been withdrawn. There are considerable naval assets in the Gulf that could be called on as backup.

Second think of crew morale. The next time this CO dispatches a boarding party you have to think the crew might not have alot of confidence in their CO if things get nasty.

 

[GAP]

good points

 

[PO2FinClk]

Although I agree on the Capt's responsibilities, it seems to me that far too many details are missing to adequately pass judgement on what he did or failed to do.

I'll reserve judgement once more is known about how it all unfolded.

 

[PO2FinClk]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/23/iran.uk/index.html

An Iranian naval patrol seized 15 British marines and sailors who had boarded a vessel suspected of smuggling cars off the coast of Iraq, military officials said.

The British government immediately demanded the safe return of its troops and summoned Tehran's London ambassador to explain the incident.

The Royal Marines and ordinary naval officers were believed to have been apprehended by up to six ships from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy who claimed they had violated Iranian waters.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/23/britain-iran.html

Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet said the British crew members were intercepted by several larger patrol boats operated by Iranian sailors belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, a radical force that operates separately from the country's regular navy.

Edited for content.

 

[CrazyCanuk4536056919]

If the commander had fired a few shots across the bow of the Iranian vessels they probably would have been withdrawn. There are considerable naval assets in the Gulf that could be called on as backup.

I think it's a little to early to be making statements such as that. Especially without all the facts.

I cant believe the UK frigate commander allowed the Iranians to take his boarding party. He needs to be relieved ASAP.

And I do believe, that UK frigate/ship commanders, have been making decisions with respects to ships, boarding parties, and all things naval, for many, many years. Again, without all the facts regarding the situation, still pretty early to make that sort of comment. 

 

[Fabius]

This is an interesting development considering this article:http://intelligence-summit.blogspot.com/2007/03/iran-to-hit-back-at-us-kidnaps.html

Monday, March 19, 2007
Iran to hit back at US ‘kidnaps’
The Sunday Times

IRAN is threatening to retaliate in Europe for what it claims is a daring undercover operation by western intelligence services to kidnap senior officers in its Revolutionary Guard.

According to Iranian sources, several officers have been abducted in the past three months and the United States has drawn up a list of other targets to be seized with the aim of destabilising Tehran’s military command.

In an article in Subhi Sadek, the Revolutionary Guard’s weekly paper, Reza Faker, a writer believed to have close links to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, warned that Iran would strike back.

“We’ve got the ability to capture a nice bunch of blue-eyed blond-haired officers and feed them to our fighting cocks,” he said. “Iran has enough people who can reach the heart of Europe and kidnap Americans and Israelis.”

The first sign of a possible campaign against high-ranking Iranian officers emerged earlier this month with the discovery that Ali Reza Asgari, former commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force in Lebanon and deputy defence minister, had vanished, apparently during a trip to Istanbul.

Asgari’s disappearance shocked the Iranian regime as he is believed to possess some of its most closely guarded secrets. The Quds Force is responsible for operations outside Iran.

Last week it was revealed that Colonel Amir Muhammed Shirazi, another high-ranking Revolutionary Guard officer, had disappeared, probably in Iraq.

A third Iranian general is also understood to be missing — the head of the Revolutionary Guard in the Persian Gulf. Sources named him as Brigadier General Muhammed Soltani, but his identity could not be confirmed.

“This is no longer a coincidence, but rather an orchestrated operation to shake the higher echelons of the Revolutionary Guard,” said an Israeli source.

Other members of the Quds Force are said to have been seized in Irbil, in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq, by US special forces.

“The capture of Quds members in Irbil was essential for our understanding of Iranian activity in Iraq,” said an American official with knowledge of the operation.

One theory circulating in Israel is that a US taskforce known as the Iran Syria Policy and Operations Group (ISOG) is coordinating the campaign to take Revolutionary Guard commanders.

The Iranians have also accused the United States of being behind an attack on Revolutionary Guards in Iran last month in which at least 17 were killed.

Military analysts believe that Iranian threats of retaliation are credible. Tehran is notorious for settling scores. When the Israelis killed Abbas Mussawi, Hezbollah’s general secretary, in 1992 the Quds Force blew up the Israeli embassy in Argentina in revenge.

Despite the Iranian threat to retaliate in Europe, Iraq is seen by some analysts as a more likely place in which to attempt abductions.

“In Iraq, the Quds Force can easily get hold of American — and British — officers,” said a Jordanian intelligence source.

This situation is escalating monthly

 

[Sf2]

Sounds like a job for:

 

[Mike Baker]

I cant believe the UK frigate commander allowed the Iranians to take his boarding party. He needs to be relieved ASAP. His lack of decision action now will see the Iranians demand the release of captured Iranians in Iraq in exchange for these personnel.Hope I am wrong. This is the second such incident involving Iranian interference with UK military personnel.

+1

Sounds like a job for:

I liked that movie 

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Folks if speculation continues on this until all the facts are released then it will be locked...clear?

Let us not forget mere frigate commanders are tasked from higher authority and at times the mothership is tasked elsewhere....it happens.

Army.ca Staff

 

[CrazyCanuk4536056919]

Serious situation for the service members involved, with the potential of starting a major international incident, is turning into a bit of a joke on this thread.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Serious situation for the service members involved, with the potential of starting a major international incident, is turning into a bit of a joke on this thread.

See above, its been already addressed

 

[IN HOC SIGNO]

Agreed. We can't second guess the Commander or the on-scene sit. Our prayers and thoughts are with our allied sailors who may be in a great degree of peril at the hands of potentially hositle and nasty people.

 

[McG]

Interesting that almost 50% of the CTV poll responces favour a military responce to this incident:  Poll Results

Maybe down the road, but I would think that the diplomatic approach should be given the first effort.  At this point, anything military can only escalate things.

 

[Shadowolf]

Unless the outcome mimics a hollywood movie, with the SBS knocking out Revolutionary guards with teddy bears, grabbing all the captives successfully, and getting out without harming any innocents, the majority of the people who back military intervention will switch sides and yell about how the military bungled things.  Armchair quarterbacks always can do better than the proffesionals, you know.

 

[Jaydub]

I wonder how far away the Cornwall was from the boats when they were surrounded...  I've been to the Gulf a couple times, and my ship never lost sight of the boarding party. And we would have detected the Iranian ships on RADAR.  I guess we can only speculate at this point until we get more info.

I'd like to see getting these guys home safely as the top priority.  If the diplomatic channels don't work, the British government will have a very difficult decision to make.

 

[midget-boyd91]

The Royal Marines and ordinary naval officers were believed to have been apprehended by up to six ships from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy

I'm finding it hard to see up to six ships intercepting the RHIB. So, I was wondering if anyone here would know what the types of Rev Guard ships these would be? (What I am trying to ask is, whether or not they(Iranians) were small patrol boats who just happened to out-gun the Marines, or ships roughly the size of Kingston class etc etc...)

 

[warspite]

Pherhaps this incedent is the sign it's time to "cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war" and eliminate the Iranian government before they cause any more trouble?