UK troops captured by Iran

UK troops captured by Iran

news.bbc.co.uk

Fifteen British Navy personnel have been captured at gunpoint by Iranian forces, the Ministry of Defence says.

The Royal Navy said the men who were on a routine patrol in Iraqi waters, were understood to be unharmed.

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Sorry if this has already been posted, I thought it was a bit strange, I couldn't find anything about it on here yet.

What do you think? Iran could have made a simple mistake over territorial waters, and hopefully they'll cooperate peacefully.

But if not then this is sure to raise some tensions!

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

I find it difficult to believe that it was a mistake. Would Iran have dared to do the same to an American search party? The trigger happy yanks would have blown the Iranian vessel out the water. Good old British stiff upper lip contains another incident.

The commander (Commodore, I believe) of our vessel must have been itching to blow the sand eaters out of the sea.

If either nation had retaliated at the Iranians it would have been trouble. Of course then we would have heard the news as "Iran declares war by attacking British vessel".

Better to go with the flow for the moment, it may have been a simple misunderstanding.

Better to go with the flow for the moment, it may have been a simple misunderstanding.

Of course not. I would bet it's a backslash from the US/UK forces capture iranian officials all over the world thing. They show that they are able to do the same to US/UK troops, and they choose their moment, during iranian holiday... where all government buildings are closed so they can wait until giving more info... interesting.

Hope the connecticut cowboy don't start the war over this.

Iran has done this deliberatly, to provoke the western countries into negotiating the snctions imposed becuase of their stance on developing nukes.

Will gurantee ya either this will give Bush and Bliar the opportunity to attack Iran or Iran will use these guys as pawns in negotiating, the sanctions to be dropped.

Either way thiis is going to get interesting, do yas think blair is going to back down, or will be warn Iran any hair ontheir heads are harmed then its WAR???

I hope to god they dont to anything to those guys, if they do all hell will break loose.

The same thing happened back in 2004, that time it turned out that the Marines in question were operating in Iranian waters. Like most countries, Iran takes a dim view of foreign troops operating in their territory.

In that incident the Marines were held for three days and then released, I expect a similar outcome this time around.

Not quite sure what the Iranians hoped to achieve. Executing them will spark off some kind of retaliation, detaining them for a protracted period will prompt a rescue mission (and lets face it, Iranian forces don't stand much of a chance against British and American special forces)... the only real choice is to free them. So why capture them in the first place? Upsetting Britain isn't helping, the US doesn't like them anyway (and this is going to send echos of the Iranian hostage crisis round the US establishment).

A mistake? I find that remarkably unlikely. According to reports the British sailors were escorted into Iranian waters (i.e. the Iranian Navy did this deliberately) before being detained.

They're up to something. I'm keen to find out what.

Originally posted by boyg2004
The trigger happy yanks

Is this suppose to be a demeaning statement?

The commander (Commodore, I believe) of our vessel must have been itching to blow the sand eaters out of the sea.

That's the difference between us "Yanks" and the rest of the world.
We would have given these Iranians a one way ticket to the afterlife!

[edit on 23/3/07 by Intelearthling]

A"Stiff upper lip"is nothing compared to a ship to ship missle.imho.

What did they expect?

If any Iranians started trawling around the US's or UK's territories then im sure the US and UK would do exactly the same!

They have every right to question these people!

The same goes for every other country in the world.

Whats wrong with you people.

Even the current US leadership isn't boneheaded enough to start a shooting war over an incident like this.

As I said, it's happened before (to the Royal Marines no less), and like before, Iran will attempt to get a little propaganda value out of the incident before releasing them unharmed.

I have a feeling if the Royal Marines and Sailors are not returned within a time frame comparable to the 2004 incident then Iran will have made the same mistake Hezbollah did before the Lebanon conflict of 2006. Though the Lebanon conflict will look like a fireworks display in comparison to the hell that will be unleashed on Iran.

Seems like a defensive measure on the part of the Iranians. The British soldiers had boarded an Iranian merchant vessel in Iranian waters and the and that is why the Brits were arrested.

Originally posted by boyg2004
I find it difficult to believe that it was a mistake. Would Iran have dared to do the same to an American search party? The trigger happy yanks would have blown the Iranian vessel out the water. Good old British stiff upper lip contains another incident.

The commander (Commodore, I believe) of our vessel must have been itching to blow the sand eaters out of the sea.

Apparently being surrounded by boat mounted machineguns before you even realize they were coming is "a stiff upper lip"...

Trigger happy yanks... the trigger happy part would've been blowing the ships out of the water BEFORE they surrounded the troops. As opposed to letting an agressor surround you and take you captive.

As far as territorial waters, all accounts so far claim that they were not in Iranian waters... if they were, then Iran has every right to stop them for violations of soverignty.

They were captured in an area been dispute by years between Iraq and Iran.

The area has been patrolled by Iranians for a long time, with that in mind it means that they consider the area theirs and any ship in the area intruding.

Now because the British soldiers were in those waters inside another ship bound to Iran, yes is considered an illegal search in Iranian waters.

So what I am waiting to see is when Trigger happy Bush will like to start his next crusade.

Oops, he is still waiting for the war budget to be approved.

the Royal Marines were in Iraqi waters the Iranians are again using piracy against the west, what are we waiting for the Iranian regime will never back down and their aim will be to close down the Gulf waters to oil shipments lets go now

They will be released withing a few days unharmed and well fed. Unlike some people the British aren't itching to start yet another war, territorial disputes and boundary's over oceans and seas are hard to judge and with the constant threats of war by the US its not understandable that the Iranians are a little on edge.

Without more details its hard to say whether there will be an apology from the Iranians or the British but it is safe to say that no war will start over this and the Naval personnel will be returned with no severe harm done to worsen the already deteriorated relations.

If not I will personally print out this post and eat my words.

Originally posted by avro
the Royal Marines were in Iraqi waters the Iranians are again using piracy against the west, what are we waiting for the Iranian regime will never back down and their aim will be to close down the Gulf waters to oil shipments lets go now

Seriously its thinking like this, that causes deaths and problems to the world, no offence, I understand how you feel, but sometimes we have to use another skill of ours first, to sort out our problems TALKING.
Violence and death should always be a last resort.

[edit on 23-3-2007 by _Phoenix_]

I find it amusing that if this has happened to Americans, anything that would be said would all be an American lie to warrant a war vs. Iran... it happens to British troops... and it's all an American excuse to go to war with Iran... People crack me up...