Iran took 15 British servicemen hostage at gunpoint yesterday because they claimed the British crossed into Iranian waters.
Iranian troops took into custody eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Marines while the British sailors and Marines were carrying out a routine inspection in what the British claims were Iraqi waters. According to Iranian television, a British envoy was summoned to the foreign ministry in Tehran to discuss the situation. One Iranian official was quoted as saying the fifteen Brits had been "detained by Iran's border authorities for further investigation of their blatant aggression into Iranian territorial waters".
Request for a full explanation for the detention of the servicemen and a demand for their immediate and safe return was met with silence. The Royal Navy insists they were operating in Iraqi waters and not Iranian territory.
This latest incident comes at a time of new tensions with Iran over the country's nuclear program, as well as coinciding with new suspicions of Iranian interference in Iraq. Latest reports suggest that Iran is indeed arming and funding insurgents attacking American and British troops.
Related Post at Right Angle in a Left Turn World: U.N. Sanctions Against Iran
2 comments:
It is starting to come out the Iranians are planning to use the Brits as trade bait for the Iranians captured in Iraq. They Iranians have also threatened to charge them with spying. That would be very very irresponsible and unfathomable (Did I spell that right?) Anyhow, the Brits and the Commonwealth would literally bomb the Iranian armed forces to technological ability seen in 300
I proudly present you with the Thinking Blogger Award!
http://lubbockmarineparents.blogspot.com/2007/03/thinking-blogger-award.html
Post a Comment