Iran seizes U.K. troops=The 15 sailors are back home

[Cookiely]

Sailors weren't in Iranian waters.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/ ... index.html
I think they are going to be used as hostages and taken to various nuclear facilities and research labs to prevent us from bombing them. What do you think?

[Nimbus]

This is a good sign they are publicly debating the evidence. One step closer to a conclusion.

The only map we have been supplied with so far was provided by Luis



The Shatt al arab is outside of the Cornwalls usual patrol area? Of course it may be standard operating procedure for the smaller attack boats to patrol the Iraqi side of the waterway. Otherwise it would be a bad time to be in there with middle east tensions running so high over the UN sanctions.

It is still unclear what route the attack boats traveled when they boarded the Indian dhow that was anchored.

The middle of the Shatt al Arab logically would be the middle of the channel. All navigational rules for rivers that I have ever heard of are based on the deepest part of the river where the ships can actually navigate.

Maybe we will be given some more maps that explain the descrepancies we are reading about?

[cycloneye]

AP: Iran says female British sailor to be freed today or Thursday.

Just came out at MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17827481/

It's good news about the release of the female sailor,but the standoff between Iran and the U.K. remains unresolved until all of the rest are freed.

[Nimbus]

The Ship that they boarded was of Indian registry. The released hostage may have been the multilingual translator? You can't just board a ship carrying guns without someone speaking their language. If she was the translator her role would be quickly apparent to the iranians.

[Cryomaniac]

AP: Iran says female British sailor to be freed today or Thursday.

Just came out at MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17827481/

It's good news about the release of the female sailor,but the standoff between Iran and the U.K. remains unresolved until all of the rest are freed.

Thats sensible on their part if they do it (assuming she's unharmed), but I'm not going to keep quiet calling for at least the threat of violence if the others aren't released pretty damn soon.

[Yarrah]

Satellite data showed that the British boat was still in Iraqi territorial waters, according to the UK ministry of defense. I wonder what Iran has to say about that.

[Chacor]

They'll probably say something went wrong with the Brits' GPS system or something.

[gtalum]

Form my understanding, I don't think there's any dispute of the actual location of the boat. The dispute is that Iran claims the territory as theirs, and Iraq (and the US and Britain, etc) claim it as Iraqi territory.

[feederband]

Form my understanding, I don't think there's any dispute of the actual location of the boat. The dispute is that Iran claims the territory as theirs, and Iraq (and the US and Britain, etc) claim it as Iraqi territory.

No there is a actual invisable line in the water...Iran says they were a 1/3rd of a mile across it..While Brits say they were 1.5 miles across the other way..

[gtalum]

Then I was wrong. There's a first time for everything!

[Pburgh]

LOL

[feederband]

Then I was wrong. There's a first time for everything!

[Brent]

They are showing a few of the hostages on Iranian TV right now, mostly showing the woman. Appear to be in good shape. They claim she "wrote" a letter that the British were in Iranian waters(yawn). Also showing other hostages eating.

[HURAKAN]

Just to illustrate the situation.

[Brent]

The initial Iranian position apparently placed them in Iraqi waters. The "revised" position puts them magically across the line.

The Associated Press is reporting that Britain is condemning the broadcast of the pictures as "completely unacceptable".

[P.K.]

They even admitted they were actually in Iraqi waters...

# The Ministry of Defence says the merchant ship boarded by a crew from HMS Cornwall on 23 March was 1.7 nautical miles (3.1km) inside Iraqi territorial waters. It says the master of the vessel has confirmed this.

# HMS Cornwall was south-east of the merchant ship, inside Iraqi waters.

# On 24 March the Iranian government told the UK - according to the UK's Ministry of Defence - that the merchant vessel was at a different location, but still within Iraqi waters.

# When the UK pointed out to the Iranians that the location they had given was within Iraqi waters, the Iranians provided a "corrected" location, nearly 1 nautical mile away (1.9km) from its first position but within Iranian waters.

# The UK government disputes both Iranian claims. It says the "corrected" location is more than 2 nautical miles (3.7km) from its own version, as recorded by HMS Cornwall's GPS data equipment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/6502805.stm

Careful with the flags you find on the net Hurakan, that one isn't actually right. The correct Union Jack looks like this.

[Hybridstorm_November2001]

Well unless Britain, and/or the Coalition, does something to Iran in retaliation for this violation the game is up. As the old saying goes; "give 'em an inch, and they'll take a mile". If Iran get away with this, they'll be emboldened, and will just keep on pushing and prodding testing for more weaknesses.

[HURAKAN]

Careful with the flags you find on the net Hurakan, that one isn't actually right. The correct Union Jack looks like this.

Thanks P.K., I hope no one was affected or felt offended.

[James]

With regard to the position of the ship, this is from the BBC news website:

"The UK government said the Iranians had initially said the merchant vessel had been at a point within Iraqi waters, before later providing a second, alternative position, within Iranian waters."

Here's the full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6503657.stm

[Cryomaniac]

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

Iran TV shows seized UK navy crew

Iranian state television has broadcast an interview with captured British female sailor Faye Turney and footage of the 14 servicemen seized with her.

Leading Seaman Turney, 26, said they had been seized in the Gulf because "obviously we trespassed" in Iranian waters - something the UK disputes.

She said her captors had been friendly and the 15 personnel were unharmed.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in a statement she was "very concerned" about the pictures....

That is througherly ridiculous, and and completely below the belt. Also Hybird storm I agree entirely.