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Reluctant Hero

Iran warned by Britain

Obviously, I hope that the service men and woman are returned safely and as soon as possible, however I can see America and Britain using this as a convenient excuse to go into Iran and blow it apart like they have been wanting to for some time.

I don't know what Iran hope to achieve from this. They are already playing with fire over the nuclear issue and now they go and do this....


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6493391.stm

Quote:
Seizure unjustified, Iran warned

The 15 are based on HMS Cornwall, which patrols Iraqi territorial waters
Iran's detention of 15 Royal Navy personnel is "unjustified and wrong", Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.
UK officials are waiting to be granted access to the HMS Cornwall staff, who were seized on Friday, and have not been told where the group are held.

Hardline students close to Iran's president have called for the sailors to be put on trial.

Iran says they were trespassing in its waters, but speaking at an EU summit, Mr Blair denied this was the case.

"It simply is not true that they went into Iranian territorial waters and I hope the Iranian government understands how fundamental an issue this is for us," Mr Blair said.

"We have certainly sent the message back to them very clearly indeed. They should not be under any doubt at all about how seriously we regard this act, which is unjustified and wrong."

The prime minister, in Berlin for the EU's 50th anniversary celebrations, said he had not commented up to now because he wanted the incident to be resolved in "as easy and diplomatic a way as possible".

He added: "It is the welfare of the people that have been taken by the Iranian government that is most important."

Speaking to reporters in New York, Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the Britons were involved in "the illegal entrance into Iranian territorial waters and this issue is being considered legally".

Students belonging to the paramilitary Basij group, which is close to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have called for the Britons to be put on trial.

But the Foreign Office is adamant that the 15 were in Iraqi waters and has called for their immediate release.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett had a telephone conversation with her Iranian counterpart during the evening.

A spokesman said she made it "very clear" that no violation of Iranian waters had occurred. She also appealed for information on the whereabouts of the group and for consular access.

The navy personnel, who include one woman, were seized at gunpoint by forces said to be Iranian Revolutionary Guards, after inspecting an Iraqi boat and returning to their two small boats to head back to the Cornwall.

Germany - which holds the EU presidency - has called for the immediate release of the Britons.

On Saturday, the UN Security Council voted unanimously in favour of further sanctions against Iran for its refusal to suspend its nuclear enrichment programme.

The seizure of the boarding party carries echoes of an incident in June 2004 when a group of eight marines and sailors were held for three days after being seized by the Iranians in the Shatt al-Arab waterway.

They were paraded blindfolded on television and later freed.

Morph

It seems to be that some people within Iran want to use these servicemen and women as a very high risk bargaining tool. This seems to be a very strange move though as it will only cause hostile international reaction.
SLG

Radio was saying something about the Americans having detained some Iranian diplomats a wee while ago.
Reluctant Hero

Looks like the woman seaman might be released soon, which is good news, but what is going to happen to the rest?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6503657.stm
skip

I understand the families of those involved being worried about this. I can't get that excited by it and I don't think the rest of the country should either. I seems like its an excuse for two sabre-rattlers to posture, USA watching on hoping for matters to kick off, and I don't think the people should be egging them on.

In fact, the soldiers are probably safer in Iran than patrolling the seas looking for pirate ships. And they are probably a good deal safer than those who are in the heart of the action in Basra or Baghdad!

It sounds like he female is going to be home by the weekend and if we play our cards right with diplomacy I think we could see the release of the others. I'm sympathetic of course to plight of the captives but they signed up for the job and must be trained on what could happen in a sensitive region of the world. I wonder how many folk we are holding captive, and the USA in particular has interned plenty without trial - not fair when it happens to us though, is it?
agentmancuso

Did anyone see Charles Glass on This Week last night? I've read some of his stuff before, but was impressed by his composure and evident grasp of the whole Middle Eastern situation. He effortlessly made Andrew Neil, Portillo and that woman look like a bunch of village idiots.
Aventinian

Nope.

But I don't think the British government is behaving very honourably in all of this either. Imposing our own bloody borders on a whim with no international backing and then putting them forward as fact.

Britain shouldn't apologise and Iran should release Britain's captives - but all the same, we are not entirely blameless in all this, as the gutter warmongering press would have us believe.
parkhead_rfb

If British troops were over there in the first place then there wouldnt have been captured at all. Its a simple solution.
BonnieBlueFlag

The British government handled the situation very well, they did not resort to the immature and irrational rants that Iran came out with.

Dealing with Iran is like dealing with a hypersensitive 5year old child with a short temper.

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