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15 British sailors seized by Iran
POSTED: 1:55 p.m. EDT, March 23, 2007
LONDON, England (CNN) -- 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.
Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett said she was "extremely disturbed" by the capture of the 15 personnel.
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. (Watch how British naval personnel were seized in Persian Gulf  )
British naval officials said the sailors, using small boarding craft, had completed an inspection of a merchant vessel in Iraqi waters when the Iranians arrived.
Commodore Nick Lambert, commander of the HMS Cornwall -- the frigate from which the British patrol had been deployed -- said the incident did not involve fighting or use of weapons.
"We've been assured from the scant communications that we've had from the Iranians at the tactical level that the 15 people are safely in their hands," he said.
The British defense ministry said that it was pursuing the incident "at the highest level."
The Associated Press, quoting a U.S. Navy spokesman, said the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had radioed a British warship to say no harm had come to the Britons, adding that they were seized in Iranian waters.
Lambert said the British sailors had been on a "normal, routine boarding" of a vessel that had aroused suspicions as it navigated the Shatt al-Arab, a disputed waterway that marks the border between Iraq and Iran on the shores of the Persian Gulf. (Location map)
British military patrols have been given authority to board vessels in Iraqi waters under United Nations mandate and with the permission of the government in Baghdad.
He said the captain of the merchant vessel had been cleared to proceed and the two British inflatable patrol boats were readying for departure when they were surrounded by the Iranian navy and taken into Iranian waters.
Lambert said there is "absolutely no doubt in my mind" that the marines were in Iraqi waters. But, he said, "The extent and the definition of territorial waters in this part of the world is very complicated... We may well find, and I hope we find, that this is a simple misunderstanding at a tactical level," he said.
"There hopefully has been a mistake that's been made, and we'll see early clarification and early release of my people."
Lambert added that the marines were doing critical work, "protecting the oil platforms to ensure the economic future of Iraq."
He described the Iranian navy as "a multi-headed organization" that generally stays within its territory doing its business, "and we stay inside Iraqi territory doing our business."
British summoned the Iranian ambassador to London to explain his country's actions. "The meeting was brisk but cordial," the UK Foreign Office said.
Foreign Minister Beckett added: "We have sought a full explanation of what happened and left the Iranian authorities in no doubt that we expect the full return of our personnel and equipment."
In Tehran -- which is currently marking the Iranian new year -- CNN's Aneesh Raman said there had been only passing mention of the incident on Iranian TV. Calls to officials had not been answered.
It was not immediately clear where in Iran the British personnel were taken.
There was a previous similar incident in 2004, when Iran stopped three British boats and seized eight sailors and six marines.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said at the time the three boats had crossed into Iran's territorial waters. The detained servicemen appeared on Iranian television blindfolded. They were released after Iran said it determined they had mistakenly crossed into Iran's waters. (Full story).
Mike Critchley, former British Navy officer and publisher of Warship World magazine, told CNN that the latest situation seemed to be a repeat of the earlier incident.
"Who knows, in a hot and hostile situation like the Middle East where things change on a daily basis, what the outcome will be," he said. (Full story) "You can be absolutely sure that enormous pressure will be brought to bare on the Iranians to release these men who were operating under a United Nations Security Council Resolution as they are, week in and week out. What the outcome of that diplomatic pressure is no one knows at this stage of course."
Britain, the United States' main ally in Iraq, has a large military presence in southern Iraq, based out of the Shatt al-Arab port of Basra. A senior British Army officer on Friday accused Iranian agents of paying Iraqi militia to carry out attacks on coalition forces around Basra.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/23/iran.uk/index.html
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