15 Royal Navy and Royal Marines Captured in Iranian Waters
15 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines from the frigate HMS Cornwall have been arrested by the Pasdaran for illegally crossing into Iranian territorial waters when they boarded a merchant vessel in the Arvand rud.
The Royal Navy routinely encroaches into Iranian territorial waters without incident. Thus the capture of these servicemen - given that the incident is set to coincide with tomorrow's UNSC vote on a resolution against Iran and President Ahmadinejad's speech before that body - was undoubtedly preplanned, set to serve as a timely reminder of the vulnerability of Occupation forces in the region. The Pasdaran etched their symbol into an U.S. warship on the 15 February 2007, a symbolic act to demonstrate their ability to sink the vessel.
Much of the Western MSM are already reporting that the incident occurred in Iraqi territorial waters, without acknowledgement that Britain dispute Iranian territorial waters in the Arvand rud, or explanation as to why the Royal Navy would be patrolling that water. They are certainly not there to prevent smuggling operations or cross border infiltration.
Iran may be prepared to trade the British servicemen for the Iranian diplomats illegally taken hostage by the United States, however I think that doubtful.
3 comments:
The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell established his racist credentials,
"Whatever the rights and wrongs of military action, British forces in Iraq are now there with the authority of a UN security council resolution... and the Iranian government should be left in no doubt of the serious implications of their action."
Iran has every legal right to seize RN vessels and their crews in Iranian waters, which as an eminent Queen's Counsellor he is undoubtedly aware.
I'm maybe missing something here, but in what way does that comment establish him as racist?
Quite apart from the fact that the UN resolution does not give the British forces authority to enter Iran, he deems it acceptable for Her Majesty's Government to threaten Iran for asserting its legal right to detain these members of the armed forces of a hostile nation that has been directly linked to terrorist attacks in Khuzestan.
Moreover, he is not naive enough to think that the Royal Navy's presence in Iranian waters is accidental. The appropriate protocol would be for the Foreign Office to issue an apology, suggest it was an accident and ask for their safe return.
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