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Patriot Games
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http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/3/23/161549.shtml?s=lh
Britain Demands Return of Captured Sailors, Marines
NewsMax.com Wires Saturday, March 24, 2007
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Naval forces of Iran's hardline Revolutionary
Guards captured 15 British sailors and marines at gunpoint Friday in the
Persian Gulf - a provocative move coming during heightened tensions between
the West and Iran.
U.S. and British officials said a boarding party from the frigate HMS
Cornwall was seized about 10:30 a.m. during a routine inspection of a
merchant ship inside Iraqi territorial waters near the disputed Shatt
al-Arab waterway.
Iran's Foreign Ministry insisted the Britons were operating in Iranian
waters and would be held "for further investigation," Iranian state
television said.
A U.S. Navy official in Bahrain, Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl, said Iran's
Revolutionary Guard naval forces were responsible and had broadcast a brief
radio message saying the British party was not harmed.
In London, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador to the
Foreign Office, and Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said he "was left in
no doubt that we want them back."
Iranian TV quoted an Iranian Foreign Ministry official as saying the top
British diplomat in Tehran had been called in to receive Tehran's protest of
the "illegal entry" into Iranian waters.
"This is not the first time that British military personnel during the
occupation of Iraq have entered illegally into Iran's territorial waters,"
the unidentified official was quoted as saying.
Britain's Defense Ministry said the Royal Navy personnel were "engaged in
routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial
waters" and had completed a ship inspection when they were accosted by
Iranian vessels.
The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines were part of a task
force that protects Iraqi oil terminals and maintains security in Iraqi
waters under authority of the U.N. Security Council.
The Cornwall's commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, said the frigate lost
communication with the boarding party, but a helicopter crew saw Iranian
naval vessels approach.
"I've got 15 sailors and marines who have been arrested by the Iranians and
my immediate concern is their safety," he told British Broadcasting Corp.
television.
Lambert said he hoped it was a "simple mistake" stemming from the long
dispute between Iraq and Iran over demarcating their territorial waters just
off the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway that divides the two
countries.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said the Bush administration was
monitoring events. "The British government is demanding the immediate safe
return of the people and equipment and we are keeping watch on the
situation," Snow said.
The incident occurred as the U.N. Security Council debates expanding
sanctions against Iran seeking to force Tehran to suspend uranium
enrichment. The U.S. and other nations suspect Iran is trying to produce
nuclear weapons. Iran denies that and insists it won't halt the program.
Iran's leaders also have denied allegations by the U.S., Britain and others
that Iranians are arming Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq.
Hours before the seizure of the Royal Navy team, British Lt. Col. Justin
Maciejewski told BBC Radio 4's "Today" program from the Iraqi city of Basra
that Iranians provided weapons and money to militants who are attacking
British troops in southern Iraq.
The U.S. military has leveled similar charges, saying Iranians send arms to
Iraqi extremists, including sophisticated roadside bombs.
This week, two commanders of an Iraqi Shiite militia told The Associated
Press in Baghdad that hundreds of Iraqi Shiites had crossed into Iran for
training by the elite Quds force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard
thought to have trained Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
With tensions running high, the United States has bolstered its naval forces
in the Persian Gulf in a show of strength directed at Iran. A strike group
led by the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis recently joined a similar
force led by the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
U.S. officials have expressed concern that with so much military hardware in
the Gulf, a small incident like Friday's could escalate into a dangerous
confrontation.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, warned this week that if
Western countries "treat us with threats and enforcement of coercion and
violence, undoubtedly they must know that the Iranian nation and authorities
will use all their capacities to strike enemies that attack."
The seizure of two Royal Navy inflatable boats took place just outside the
mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, a 125-mile channel dividing Iraq from
Iran. Its name means Arab Coastline in Arabic, and Iranians call it Arvand
Drud - Farsi for Arvand River.
A 1975 treaty recognized the middle of the waterway as the border. Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein canceled the treaty five years later and invaded Iran,
triggering an eight-year war.
"It's been in dispute for some time," said Aandahl, the U.S. Navy official
in Bahrain. "We've been operating there for a couple of years and we know
the lines very well. This was a compliant boarding, this happens routinely.
What's out of the ordinary is the Iranian response."
In June 2004, six British marines and two sailors were seized by Iran in the
Shatt al-Arab. They were presented blindfolded on Iranian television and
admitted entering Iranian waters illegally, then released unharmed after
three days.
Vali Nasr, a senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign
Relations, suggested Friday's detention could be connected to the arrest of
five Iranians in a U.S.-led raid in northern Iraq in January. The U.S. said
the five included a Revolutionary Guard general.
"I think Iran sees this as retaliation for the arrest of their own
personnel. They have repeatedly said that they want their personnel
released," Nasr said. "So they are either signaling that they can do the
same thing or they are trying to bring attention to it."
Britain Demands Return of Captured Sailors, Marines
NewsMax.com Wires Saturday, March 24, 2007
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Naval forces of Iran's hardline Revolutionary
Guards captured 15 British sailors and marines at gunpoint Friday in the
Persian Gulf - a provocative move coming during heightened tensions between
the West and Iran.
U.S. and British officials said a boarding party from the frigate HMS
Cornwall was seized about 10:30 a.m. during a routine inspection of a
merchant ship inside Iraqi territorial waters near the disputed Shatt
al-Arab waterway.
Iran's Foreign Ministry insisted the Britons were operating in Iranian
waters and would be held "for further investigation," Iranian state
television said.
A U.S. Navy official in Bahrain, Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl, said Iran's
Revolutionary Guard naval forces were responsible and had broadcast a brief
radio message saying the British party was not harmed.
In London, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador to the
Foreign Office, and Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said he "was left in
no doubt that we want them back."
Iranian TV quoted an Iranian Foreign Ministry official as saying the top
British diplomat in Tehran had been called in to receive Tehran's protest of
the "illegal entry" into Iranian waters.
"This is not the first time that British military personnel during the
occupation of Iraq have entered illegally into Iran's territorial waters,"
the unidentified official was quoted as saying.
Britain's Defense Ministry said the Royal Navy personnel were "engaged in
routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial
waters" and had completed a ship inspection when they were accosted by
Iranian vessels.
The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines were part of a task
force that protects Iraqi oil terminals and maintains security in Iraqi
waters under authority of the U.N. Security Council.
The Cornwall's commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, said the frigate lost
communication with the boarding party, but a helicopter crew saw Iranian
naval vessels approach.
"I've got 15 sailors and marines who have been arrested by the Iranians and
my immediate concern is their safety," he told British Broadcasting Corp.
television.
Lambert said he hoped it was a "simple mistake" stemming from the long
dispute between Iraq and Iran over demarcating their territorial waters just
off the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway that divides the two
countries.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said the Bush administration was
monitoring events. "The British government is demanding the immediate safe
return of the people and equipment and we are keeping watch on the
situation," Snow said.
The incident occurred as the U.N. Security Council debates expanding
sanctions against Iran seeking to force Tehran to suspend uranium
enrichment. The U.S. and other nations suspect Iran is trying to produce
nuclear weapons. Iran denies that and insists it won't halt the program.
Iran's leaders also have denied allegations by the U.S., Britain and others
that Iranians are arming Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq.
Hours before the seizure of the Royal Navy team, British Lt. Col. Justin
Maciejewski told BBC Radio 4's "Today" program from the Iraqi city of Basra
that Iranians provided weapons and money to militants who are attacking
British troops in southern Iraq.
The U.S. military has leveled similar charges, saying Iranians send arms to
Iraqi extremists, including sophisticated roadside bombs.
This week, two commanders of an Iraqi Shiite militia told The Associated
Press in Baghdad that hundreds of Iraqi Shiites had crossed into Iran for
training by the elite Quds force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard
thought to have trained Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.
With tensions running high, the United States has bolstered its naval forces
in the Persian Gulf in a show of strength directed at Iran. A strike group
led by the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis recently joined a similar
force led by the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
U.S. officials have expressed concern that with so much military hardware in
the Gulf, a small incident like Friday's could escalate into a dangerous
confrontation.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, warned this week that if
Western countries "treat us with threats and enforcement of coercion and
violence, undoubtedly they must know that the Iranian nation and authorities
will use all their capacities to strike enemies that attack."
The seizure of two Royal Navy inflatable boats took place just outside the
mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, a 125-mile channel dividing Iraq from
Iran. Its name means Arab Coastline in Arabic, and Iranians call it Arvand
Drud - Farsi for Arvand River.
A 1975 treaty recognized the middle of the waterway as the border. Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein canceled the treaty five years later and invaded Iran,
triggering an eight-year war.
"It's been in dispute for some time," said Aandahl, the U.S. Navy official
in Bahrain. "We've been operating there for a couple of years and we know
the lines very well. This was a compliant boarding, this happens routinely.
What's out of the ordinary is the Iranian response."
In June 2004, six British marines and two sailors were seized by Iran in the
Shatt al-Arab. They were presented blindfolded on Iranian television and
admitted entering Iranian waters illegally, then released unharmed after
three days.
Vali Nasr, a senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on Foreign
Relations, suggested Friday's detention could be connected to the arrest of
five Iranians in a U.S.-led raid in northern Iraq in January. The U.S. said
the five included a Revolutionary Guard general.
"I think Iran sees this as retaliation for the arrest of their own
personnel. They have repeatedly said that they want their personnel
released," Nasr said. "So they are either signaling that they can do the
same thing or they are trying to bring attention to it."
