WAR: Iran siezes 3 Royal Navy Vessels

BBC is reporting 8 British sailors arrested after Iran confiscated three British "warships" in Iranian territorial waters. The Ministry of Defense in London has not yet confirmed the situation.




Jerusalem Post

News.com

SkyNews

[edit on 21-6-2004 by John bull 1]

[edit on 21-6-2004 by John bull 1]

[edit on 6-22-2004 by Valhall]

Iran has been seizing fishing boats in a dispute with the UAE over three islands in the Gulf recently.

Iran seizes another fishing boat from UAE amid escalating Gulf dispute

They also made a statement on friday saying they were able and ready to defend their coastline.

www.tehrantimes.com.../20/2004&Cat=2&Num=005

I'm guessing(hoping?) this is a news mix-up, but we'll know soon enough!! If it's true, it's not a sensible move on the part of the Iranians.

Anything to do with the navy games going on a the moment I wonder?

What sort of navy vessel has a crew of 8? And that split between three ships. And why were we sailing such a small group in to Iranian waters? We know that Iran isn't entirely friendly at the mo, what with getting berated about nukes and sech, so why such a small group?
This whole thing just seems like a story with all the interesting parts stripped out. I would agree,not a sensible move by the Iranians, but my (paranoid and unfounded) gut instinct suspects that this is a blackopgone wrong. Probably wrong I concede but I still want to knowwhat such a small grouop of folk were doingin the area anyway.

The area where this has happened is a notorious disputed territory. I think that the Sky News statement "ships seized" is a misnomer, the vessels are more than likely to be Rigid Inflatables RIBs.

Does make you wonder if the RN were doing a surrupticious recce. Maybe it's just the Iranians getting jumpy. After all, the Iran/iraq war started with a dispute about ownership of that waterway.

zero lift

The BBC is saying:

The Ministry of Defence in London said it had no information about the incident and was looking into the reports.

This really does make you wonder what the Royal Navy was doing. It seems like it was most probably something covert, specifically aimed at Iran. I do not believe that they were trying to prevent smuggling - not a group that small. They were definately up to something.

I agree ZL.

BBC have 8 arrested.This sounds like 3 RIBs patroling the area that wandered into Iranian territory.

I bet the Iranians have given plenty of diplomatic warnings over this before now.I remember they warned the British and U.S over territorial incursions in the air.

I though about the black-op gone wrong idea, but then I figured if it WAS something like this (SBS/SEAL type thing), the wouldn't have had maps with them, or at least not easily findable/decodable ones.

Given the disputes over the islands, it's possible the boats/dinghy's we docked/moored at the time, and were impounded.

The Iranians are probably playing it up somewhat, potentially for internal reasons.

Was just watching BBC News 24, and they mentioned something I found interesting. The boats were stopped when they went near to an Oil Rig. Just thought I'd mention it.
Seems a fair point about the maps by the way.

Latest:

"This morning we got news that a number of foreign vessels entered Iranian waters without permission. Three boats were guided to Iranian shores and more than five crew were arrested," Revolutionary Guards spokesman Massoud Jazaeri said.

This situation has the potential to be huge. I would estimate that the British fleet commander will have already issued an ultimatum to release the 'staff' within a certain timeframe. If these stipulations are not met things could get ugly.

Watch this one closely folks.

Benjj

[edit on 21-6-2004 by benjj]

I doubt the Iranians will be that stupid, they'll release them by the end of the day, or tomorrow.

UK navy loses contact with boats
THE Royal Navy acknowledged today that it had lost contact with three small patrol boats after they went on a routine mission in the waterway between Iraq and Iran, a British military spokesman said.
news.com.au...
edit: "on condition of anonymity."
Sanc'.

[edit on 21-6-2004 by sanctum]

From the look of the map it looks as though the boats could have just strayed slightly too far downriver, and crossed the border into Iran.

Whoops.. a bit careless!

I shouldn't think the sailors have much to worry about. The Iranians are an alright bunch, judging by those I've met, and at least they sound like they're in official hands. The diplomats are probably just relishing having Mr Straw on the phone saying "Please Mr, can we have or sailors back?"

Since Iranians and the British both speak "the international language of football", more than likely the sailors are exchanging Euro 04 predictions with their captors as we speak.

This has got to be embarrassing for the royal navy allowing its crew to get arrested by the Iranians

Originally posted by Yog the Sloth
What sort of navy vessel has a crew of 8?

Minesweepers

There is nothing in this guys, Honestly , I have been involved in similar situations in the gulf before , its nothin to worry about, Its a political thing , just irans way of sayin stay out of our waters

Just a tad, possibly..
I think the sailors are probably more concerned about missing England-Croatia tonight.. it kicks off in three hours!! (then again, if they can't get the game on the ship, maybe it was all just a ploy to find a telly somewhere!:lol

minesweepers wtf are they doing close to Iran then?

Originally posted by Voice_of Doom
...............*racial epithet removed*................

You do not need to use racist remarks to emphasise your point.

Please reframe from doing this in future.


[edit on 21-6-2004 by Banshee]