Iran to Prosecute British Sailors
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
TEHRAN, Iran — Tehran will prosecute eight British sailors and Marines for
allegedly entering Iranian waters aboard three military patrol boats, according
to Iranian state-run television.
British officials are demanding access to the men, who were detained in the
Shatt-al-Arab waterway (search) on Monday as they were delivering a patrol boat
to the new Iraqi Riverine Patrol Service. The waterway, the outlet of the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers into the Persian Gulf, runs along the southern
border between Iran and Iraq.
The incident follows a strain in Iranian-British relations after London helped
draft a resolution rebuking Iran for past nuclear cover-ups at last week's
meeting of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency's (search) board of
governors.
Iranian television showed the British servicemen sitting silently on chairs and
a sofa. Three of them were in British military uniform; five others wore
military trousers and civilian T-shirts.
"They will be prosecuted for illegally entering Iranian territorial waters,"
said Al-Alam television, an Arabic-language channel on the state-run Iranian
radio and television network.
"The vessels were 1,000 meters inside Iranian territorial waters. The crew have
also confessed to having entered Iranian waters," the broadcast said. The
distance is about a half-mile.
The British Foreign Office said Foreign Secretary Jack Straw (search) had
spoken to Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi (search) about the detention
of the servicemen.
The Foreign Office said it had asked for immediate details about where the men
were being detained and had requested immediate access to them.
The Iranian Ambassador to the United Kingdom was called to the Foreign Office
Tuesday morning for a meeting with a senior Foreign Office official, Fox News
has learned. The British official demanded the Royal Marines' immediate
release.
The British official also wanted to know why the men were detained, why they
are still being detained and why no consular access had been granted to see the
men.
The Foreign Office said the ambassador failed to provide any answers.
The Shatt-al-Arab waterway, Iraq's main link with the Persian Gulf, divides
Iran and Iraq and has long been a source of tension between the neighbors. The
1980-88 Iran-Iraq war broke out after then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein claimed
the entire waterway.
Iranian and British diplomats were at odds last week over the nuclear agency's
resolution taking Iran to task for cover-ups involving its atomic program.
Iran says its program is aimed only at producing energy, while the United
States accuses Tehran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran accused
Britain, which it had seen as a partner in the investigation into its nuclear
activities, of caving in to U.S. pressure on the resolution.
Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Monday that Iranian naval
guards, "acting upon their legal duty," seized the boats and detained the
occupants when they entered Iran's territorial waters, according to the
official Islamic Republic News Agency.
Al-Alam television reported that the crew members were carrying maps and
weapons.
The British Defense Ministry said the personnel were from the Royal Navy
training team based in southern Iraq. They were delivering a boat from Umm Qasr
to Basra, Iraq.
"The boats are unarmed but the crews were carrying their personal weapons," a
statement said.
Diplomatic relations between Britain and Iran have been unpredictable for
years.
Ties were strained in 1989 when the founder of the Islamic revolution,
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, against
British author Salman Rushdie, who allegedly insulted Islam in his best-selling
novel, "The Satanic Verses."
In 1998, the Iranian government declared it would not support the fatwa and the
two countries exchanged ambassadors a year later.
In 2002, Iran rejected a British candidate for ambassador, claiming he was a
Jewish spy. A year later, shots were fired at the British embassy in Tehran,
after Britain briefly held an Iranian diplomat accused of helping to mastermind
the car bombing of a Jewish center in Argentina.
Britain has pursued a policy of constructive engagement with the clerical
regime and last year, with France and Germany, persuaded Tehran to cooperate
with international nuclear inspectors.
But relations are again strained, after London helped draft a resolution at
last week's meeting of the IAEA, rebuking Iran for failing to meet its
commitments.
British diplomats sought to play down a possible link between the resolution
and the arrest of the eight crewmen, however, and suggested the arrests had
been made by an opportunistic local military commander.
With the June 30 handover of sovereignty to an Iraqi government approaching,
the incident may represent Iran marking out its territory in the disputed
waterway, a diplomat suggested. The arrests may also be linked to Iranian
hardline anger at damage caused to a Shiite Muslim shrine in Najaf, Iraq.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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| User: "Michael Johnathan McDonald" |
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| Title: Re: Iran to Prosecute British Sailors |
22 Jun 2004 06:47:16 PM |
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(TonyZ2001) wrote in message news:<20040622112922.16712.00000263@mb-m22.aol.com>...
Iran to Prosecute British Sailors
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
TEHRAN, Iran — Tehran will prosecute eight British sailors and Marines for
allegedly entering Iranian waters aboard three military patrol boats, according
to Iranian state-run television.
They were delivering a patrol ship to Iraq. They were delivering a
patrol ship to Iraq. It was a peaceful mission. Maybe the brits can
now arrest all Iranians in England and place them on trial with this
type of loggerhead mentality.
British officials are demanding access to the men,
Good luck. Guess who you are dealing with.
who were detained in the
Shatt-al-Arab waterway (search) on Monday as they were delivering a patrol boat
to the new Iraqi Riverine Patrol Service. The waterway, the outlet of the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers into the Persian Gulf, runs along the southern
border between Iran and Iraq.
The incident follows a strain in Iranian-British relations after London helped
draft a resolution rebuking Iran for past nuclear cover-ups at last week's
meeting of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency's (search) board of
governors.
Iranian television showed the British servicemen sitting silently on chairs and
a sofa.
I seen blindfolds on them like some type of abuse.
Three of them were in British military uniform; five others wore
military trousers and civilian T-shirts.
"They will be prosecuted for illegally entering Iranian territorial waters,"
I ran declared themselves rulers of that water after the Iran/Iraq
wars - it was never theirs in the first place. It was Iraqi waters.
said Al-Alam television, an Arabic-language channel on the state-run Iranian
radio and television network.
"The vessels were 1,000 meters inside Iranian territorial waters.
Their claims, not international or Iraqi claims.
The crew have
also confessed to having entered Iranian waters," the broadcast said.
Yep, and the Saudis said that they caught the terrorists last week
and found the body of the Loral worker?
The
distance is about a half-mile.
If Genghis Khan were alive today, he would give 20 minuets to the
Iranians to turn over the hostages, or he would send out warplanes and
carpet bomb Iran in effort to rid out all the population until the
hostages were let go. Iran would never do that again.
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| User: "Krib" |
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| Title: Re: Iran to Prosecute British Sailors |
23 Jun 2004 03:29:47 AM |
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"Michael Johnathan McDonald" <abookoflife@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:dd3256f0.0406221547.70b2dc6b@posting.google.com...
Maybe the brits can now arrest all Iranians in England and place them on
trial with this type of loggerhead mentality.
That would be a major over reaction and will not happen. It's an
obviou ploy by Iran, they're basically sending a warning to Europe
because of the recent demands over Iran's nuke program.
Good luck. Guess who you are dealing with.
They'll be freed in a few days.
If Genghis Khan were alive today, he would give 20 minuets to the
Iranians to turn over the hostages, or he would send out warplanes and
carpet bomb Iran in effort to rid out all the population until the
hostages were let go. Iran would never do that again.
No he wouldn't that's your idea of diplomacy not his. You can't relate the
actions of Khan to modern times in that way.
--
krib
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| User: "TonyZ2001" |
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| Title: Re: Iran to Prosecute British Sailors |
23 Jun 2004 04:14:34 AM |
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"Krib" <krib@address.invalid>
wrote:
They'll be freed in a few days.
Define "few".
Tony
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| User: "tw" |
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| Title: Re: Iran to Prosecute British Sailors |
24 Jun 2004 06:25:03 AM |
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"TonyZ2001" <tonyz2001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040623051434.05741.00000488@mb-m05.aol.com...
"Krib" <krib@address.invalid>
wrote:
They'll be freed in a few days.
Define "few".
Four?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3835313.stm
Run Tony! Run!
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