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Iran Dissidents: British Capture Ordered [Opposition Group Says Ayatollah Khamenei Ordered Capture]
AP via ABC News ^ | March 31, 2007 | DAVID STRINGER

Posted on 03/31/2007 8:33:43 PM PDT by jdm

LONDON Mar 31, 2007 (AP) — An Iranian opposition group claimed Saturday that Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines was planned in advance and carried out in retaliation for the U.N. sanctions imposed against the country, as an Iranian diplomat said the case had entered a legal phase.

Gholam-Reza Ansari, the Iranian ambassador to Russia, made his comments to Russian television Vesti-24 on Friday and was quoted by IRNA on its Web site as saying, "the case of the detention of British sailors has taken on a judicial form."

IRNA originally quoted the ambassador Saturday morning as saying the sailors could be "tried if there is enough evidence of guilt." But the agency published a correction later claiming Ansari's comments were incorrectly translated by Russian television. The Russian TV station could not immediately be reached for comment.

Asked about Ansari's remarks earlier Saturday before IRNA reported that he was misquoted, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett urged Iran to resolve the crisis peacefully.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran the political wing of the Iranian MEK opposition group which is listed as a terrorist group by Britain, the U.S. and the European Union said the British crew's capture was planned in advance, but offered no evidence to support the claims.

The British sailors were detained by Iranian naval units March 23 while patrolling for smugglers near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway that has long been a disputed dividing line between Iraq and Iran. Iran claims the Britons were in its territory; Britain and the Iraqi government say they were taken captive in Iraqi waters.

Iran appears intent on sending a message of strength as it faces mounting U.N. Nations sanctions over its uranium enrichment program, which the U.S. and other nations suspect the Islamic Republic is using to develop nuclear weapons.

Hossein Abedini, a member of the opposition group's foreign affairs committee, claimed the group had obtained information from sources within Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard and had passed details to the British government. He did not provide any evidence or give further details.

Britain's Foreign Office said it could not comment on Abedini's allegation, or say if it had evidence the operation was pre-planned. A spokeswoman said the MEK was a banned organization under British anti-terrorism laws meaning the government had no dealings with the group.

Abedini told a London press conference that an Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval garrison had been on alert from the night before the kidnapping, to prepare for the operation.

Mohammad Mohaddessin, who handles foreign affairs for the council, said in a statement that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had ordered the detention of the Britons in the hope of pressuring the British government over a threat to toughen U.N. sanctions.

"You can see that the clerical regime had in a premeditated act arrested British sailors in order to win concessions from the international community and divert attention from its nuclear project," Abedini said. "Claims that the sailors were arrested in Iranian territorial waters are baseless."

Britain's Foreign Office reiterated that the personnel "were in Iraqi waters and we continue to request immediate consular access to them and their immediate release."

Britain has frozen most contacts with Iran and referred the issue to the U.N. Security Council, which expressed "grave concern" on Thursday over Iran's seizure last week of the Britons.

Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami told reporters on Saturday that he hopes the current standoff will be resolved peacefully "instead of facing a new disaster not only for Iranian-British relations, but for Iran internationally."


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: british; dissidents; iran; muhammadsminions; sailors
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To: Michael Barnes

Right now, I think patience and a whole lot of spook work will set the stage for some soon to be homeless (and hopefully) bodiless mullahs.

NOW (and should have been long ago) is the time to unleash the spooks and SOCOM for black ops on Iran. Make the mullahs afraid to leave their homes. Then oops, a natural gas leak. Mullah meets 72 Helen Thomases (no picture please).


41 posted on 04/01/2007 7:28:40 AM PDT by Fred Hayek (Liberalism is a mental disorder)
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To: Rutles4Ever

I don't know what fighting you saw between ISrael and Hezbola, but your assessment of eating ones lunch, is far from what happened. Actually, Hezzbola got their ass wuppt.. Yea they shot a thousand missiles into Israel, but Hezbola and their misguided people suffered greatly, and their hideouts have been destroyed.


42 posted on 04/01/2007 8:05:10 AM PDT by 57Chevy (Freedom is not Free!)
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To: mkjessup
I'm not defending Chamberlain how could anyone.But for shall we say a wider overview if the nazis had attacked just two / three years or so earlier German would have been the UKs first Language and the world would have been a much darker place.

Some say 'isn't it odd the way things worked out'.

Others might think it isn't odd at all 'thank God'

43 posted on 04/01/2007 8:45:02 AM PDT by Brit1 ( By strength and guile .)
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To: cmotormac44; ASA Vet; BIGLOOK; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Seadog Bytes

We lived in a very sinful, wicked, and dangerous world during the late 1930's and the first half of the 1940's.

Fortunately, we had enough leaders around the world who realized it.

More important, we had men like yourself from America and our allies, who crushed and destroyed that evil. Thank you.

Our danger now are the left wing leaders in America, the UK, Canada and Europe, who love serial killer despots like $addam, Fidel, Mao and the current Islamofascits thugs controlling Iran. If they get their way, our world may be doomed.

We must pray and keep that from happening.

Thanks for your service decades ago which with others like you, enabled us to be alive and free today.


44 posted on 04/01/2007 8:57:30 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (GW has more Honor and Integrity in his little finger than ALL of the losers on the "hate Bush" band)
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To: Rutles4Ever
"Did the U.S. State Department all get jobs at 10 Downing?"

Thanks for the best but sad laugh of the morning!

45 posted on 04/01/2007 8:59:30 AM PDT by Grampa Dave (GW has more Honor and Integrity in his little finger than ALL of the losers on the "hate Bush" band)
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To: mkjessup

Where is Colonel Blimp?

46 posted on 04/01/2007 9:12:26 AM PDT by expatguy (http://laotze.blogspot.com/)
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To: bygolly
I wonder if Tokyo Rosie agrees with this guy?


47 posted on 04/01/2007 9:34:17 AM PDT by do the dhue (DEM ARE RATS!!!!!)
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To: Danette
>"But, but, but Rosie O said they were in Iranian waters and tried to get caught so the Brits could start WW3."

Those would be wood boats, (Rosie hates wood.) because never before in history has fire melted steel. Therefore steel boats are impossible to manufacture.

48 posted on 04/01/2007 4:25:46 PM PDT by rawcatslyentist (Compromise with Islam means you will submit to them killing you!)
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To: jdm

It would be hard to believe that it happened by accident.


49 posted on 04/01/2007 4:56:42 PM PDT by popdonnelly (Our first responsibility is to keep the power of the Presidency out of the hands of the Clintons.)
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To: Grampa Dave
RE: "Thanks for your service decades ago which with others like you, enabled us to be alive and free today."

BUMP!!!


50 posted on 04/01/2007 7:49:05 PM PDT by Seadog Bytes (OPM - The Liberal 'solution' to every societal problem. (Other People's Money))
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To: Rutles4Ever

Thank you for your kind words but never be in awe of anyone or anything other than our Lord and Savior Jesus


51 posted on 04/01/2007 8:19:55 PM PDT by cmotormac44
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To: montag813

" I have read it. it gives no comfort at all


"

It speaks of "a new nation arising from the sea" (sea of peoples)---it speaks of Israelites (Jewish people) returning to their homeland and the eternal protection God will give them---it speaks of the opponents in the ;last days' (Kings of the East and Kings of the West)---it speaks of the area for the last battle on earth (Armegeddon, on the plain of Megiddo)---it speaks to the number of "days" that it will take to complete all things (Daniel and Revelation) while we do not know the time lines exactly but know they most certainly are set)---it speaks to faith that millions have given their very lives for over the centuries----I cannot believe that all of them were ignorant fools---finally,it gives a set of rules for living (Ten Commandments) that would most certainly give everyone alive today more peace and happiness than anything they could build or buy for a wonderful life, if only they were followed---


52 posted on 04/01/2007 8:53:39 PM PDT by cmotormac44
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

"THIS IS AN ACT OF WAR!!!

Are there no men left who will stand up for what's right?!

What world am I growing up into?"

Agreed, it is an act of war. Their are many men who are already standing up to fight and dying to preserve our way of life. The British and American military personnel are top notch. The problem is policy, you have a total division of right wing and left wing politics. The right wing understands that Islam will not surrender nor negotiate until we are either all Muslims or all dead (with the latter preferred by our enemy). The left wing believes we can negotiate every situation either directly or by proxy. 800 years of history tell us exactly what must be done about militant Islam:

1) Beef up defense, gather intelligence with operatives on the ground and technology everywhere.

2) Go on the offensive. History shows us we are better using massive retaliation for Islamic attrocities sooner before the Islamic threat spreads. We ignored Iran for 30 years and Al Queda for 10. If we had retaliated massively in 1993 after the first trade towers you would not have had a 9/11, 7/7 or Spain Madrid train bombings. With Iran you would not be seeing them building nukes and threatening to use them, nor would you see them in Iraq influencing our entire strategy.

3) Cut off funding for all terrorists and more importantly, their sponsors. To do this effectively, we must build our own domestic energy supply. Saudi Arabia is still the number one funder of international terror followed by Iran. Who provides the West with it's oil? Saudi Arabia and Iran. Then you have Russia, supplying weapons and nuclear assistance to terrorist states. The West, particularly Europe is frozen on any action against Iran and Russia precisely for this reason.

4) Stop immigration from Islamic states. Yeah, we love thos guys from Jordon coming here because they fully immigrate and have had 15 years of full democracy, enough time for the populace to make freedom and prosperity a focus instead of killing Jews and the Great Satan.

5) Stop illegal immigration on our own border and enforce the law. WHy would countries not try and smuggle bad guys in with bombs, when we don't even have the will to police and protect our own people.


53 posted on 04/02/2007 10:38:32 AM PDT by quantfive
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To: Scott from the Left Coast

"No, really, this is watching the end of western civilization. We don't care to preserve what we've created any longer. So, like others before us, we are relegating ourselves to stuff of dusty museums and college students who write theses on our rise and fall."

Nah, your seeing an exact repeat of what other countries did when they saw Islam beging advancing. Those countries, primarily the UK went on the offensive, then backed off leaving Europe to be mostly dominated by Islam, then enough countries united militarily to crush Islam and send it packing. The only difference is this history will be repeated in terms of decades, not centuries with the true uniting of Western powers happening only when a nuclear device is used.


54 posted on 04/02/2007 11:25:40 AM PDT by quantfive
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To: montag813

“I have read it. It doesn’t say anything about the United States. It doesn’t give a timeline. It is no comfort at all given what is going on in the West.”

Timeline of a history of “the end”:

1: Israel reformed as a nation, Daniels prophecy of number of years until Jews gather together from all corners of the earth. This occured in 1948, within 6 months of Daniels stated timeline. He prophecied 1947.

2) Christ says that their will be wars and reports of wars, to hold your head high because our deliverance is getting near but the end is not yet. Christ prophecies the end will happen before the generation expired that saw Israel reform as a nation. No timetable but does it mean that if you were born in 1948, you were part of the generation or would it mean you would have to be old enough to understand the significance of the event? In either case, since a person lives 80 or so years, you would be looking at 2028 latest and present day now as soonest.

3) America only seems to be mentioned in the early passages of Revelations, where the Dragon disgourges water from it’s mouth to swallow the newly formed Israel, but the wings of the eagle carry her off and protect her for a time and times and half a time. Don’t have my bible handy but believe this is in Revelations 3 or 4.


55 posted on 04/02/2007 3:16:39 PM PDT by quantfive
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To: 57Chevy

“I don’t know what fighting you saw between ISrael and Hezbola, but your assessment of eating ones lunch, is far from what happened. Actually, Hezzbola got their ass wuppt.. Yea they shot a thousand missiles into Israel, but Hezbola and their misguided people suffered greatly, and their hideouts have been destroyed.”

Ok jumping in here. Yes what you say above is right. However, the Israeli population rightfully thought it as a draw which is why Olmert’s approval ratings are in the single digits. Truth is, you had a lawyer (Olmert) and an air force general running what should have been a coordinated air, ground war to annihalate all of Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hell, you even had the Saudi’s issuing fatwahs saying how Israel had the right to self-defense. Israel blew this opportunity. Yeah, they destroyed some of Hezbollahs capability but in turn, Iran is emboldened, Hezbollah now has permanent government seats in Lebanons government and they are re-installing more short and long range rockets to be used at a later time against Israel.


56 posted on 04/02/2007 3:22:08 PM PDT by quantfive
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