We know what happens now. Bond gets called into M’s office.
Posted on 06/21/2004 7:24:52 AM PDT by kattracks
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — The Royal Navy acknowledged Monday that it had lost contact with three small patrol boats after they went on a routine mission in the waterway between Iraq and Iran, a British military spokesman said.The statement came shortly after state television in Iran said that Tehran had confiscated the three British military vessels and arrested eight armed crew members. British officials did not confirm the boats were captured or the crewmembers detained.
"I can confirm that three small Royal Navy patrol boats and eight crew have been out of communication since the early hours of this morning," said a military spokesman in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on condition of anonymity. "It is not unusual for the Royal Navy to be patrolling the Shatt-al-Arab."
The Royal Navy has been training Iraqi personnel in coastal defense for several weeks on the waterway, and it is possible that the vessels were part of that exercise.
Waiting for something from Jack Straw...
The Israeli's have had air-refuelling tankers for years. They already operated Boeing 707s and KC-130s. They can also buddy-buddy refuel.
We know what happens now. Bond gets called into M’s office.
I get the feeling there may be more to this story than we're hearing now, which might explain the lack of protest from the UK so far, not to mention the imminent chiming in from the US. If this should turn into a serious world incident, it won't just be the UK on their own against Iran, it will be the US/UK agasint them. I figure by the end of the day this will have turned into a red hot story, or it will fizzle if we learn that the crew members were released. If the crew is held captive against a backdrop of Iranian rhetoric aimed at the UK/US, it could overshadow anything that's happened so far in Iraq. That's a big if though.
Lt Smash has this to say -
Iran actually has two "navies." The regular Iranian Navy consists of a handful of submarines, destroyers, frigates, and auxiliary craft. They are generally courteous and professional, and avoid direct confrontation with other military vessels in the Gulf.
On the other hand, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Pasdaran, is anything but courteous and professional. The Pasdaran navy consists of several hundred small vessels, ranging from speedboats armed with machine guns and rocket launchers, to fast corvettes armed with anti-ship missiles. The Pasdaran are considered “guardians of the revolution,” and report directly to Iran’s ruling mullahs.
During the Iran-Iraq war, Pasdaran units repeatedly attacked neutral shipping, setting several oil tankers ablaze. Since the end of that conflict, they have frequently undertaken naked acts of piracy, often holding entire crews of small vessels for ransom (generally, these were smugglers of Iraqi oil or other illegal exports who had failed to pay protection money to the mullahs).
The Pasdaran navy has had several run-ins with the United States and other allied navies in the Gulf. I personally witnessed their recklessly aggressive tactics first-hand, when two Iranian missile boats made a high-speed run at US Navy battle group, and failed to respond to radio calls. Suffice it to say that several Iranians owe their lives to the patience and restraint of my ship’s captain – I was ready to open fire.
These are the nice folks who have seized three British patrol boats and taken eight sailors hostage. Unfortunately for them, they probably have no clue as to the nasty can of worms they have just opened.
http://www.lt-smash.us/archives/003007.html#003007
(Also see the discussion of the "Pasdaran" Iranian navy in Weimdog's post #26, above.)
In the map below, the borders of Kuwait, Iraq and Iran can be seen entering the Persian Gulf. as dark gray lines. Also, the Shatt al-Arab can be seen along the Euphrates as it too, enters the gulf.
--Boot Hill
Someting is not quite right with this. All day long now (and I just checked the wire services again) it's the same story with nothing new added. Britian isn't saying anything and neither is the US. WHY? By now both the UK and US should be condemning the action and demanding the immediate release of the soldiers, yet nothing but roaring silence. Again, why?
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SAS?
I don't care if these boats strayed or not. The Pueblo incident was a disgrace. We (or the Brits) should tell Iran to cough up immediately or prepare to lose their entire navy, fleet, ports and all. This is a war zone.
Looks to me, referring to your map that they would have been very close to the open water of the gulf.
What might be in that area that would be of interest?
Any idea?
Seems so to me! I've been waiting 25 years for the payback Iran deserves.
I think this might have been a SAS insertion.........what they were re conning is anyones guess.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,9919190%255E1702,00.html
Iraq 'joins efforts to free Brits'
From correspondents in Basra
22jun04
BRITISH forces had asked Iraqi authorities to mediate with Iran over the seizure of three British naval boats and the arrest of eight crew, a coastguard source said today.
Coastguard officials in southern Iraq had been asked to appeal to the Iranians for the release of the patrol boats and crew, the source said.
The Britons were detained after they entered the Islamic republic's territorial waters on the Iraqi border.
The source said the office of Iraqi General Ali Hammadi had made contact with the Iranian authorities and hoped the Britons would be quickly released.
First Iran "masses" troops at the Iraq/Iran border, then they pirate three UK patrol boats. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Why are they begging to be zapped? Hmmmm?
UPDATE FROM LT SMASH: Iran claims that the boats were seized after the British crews violated Iran's territorial waters in the Shatt al Arab waterway.
Ownership of the Shatt al-Arab has been a matter of dispute between Iraq and Iran since 1935, and was one of the issues that precipitated the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. The boundary line remains in dispute today.
It appears likely that the British sailors were transiting through an area that both nations claim as their own. It is also possible that the Iranians initially believed they were intercepting Iraqi patrol craft, but didn't realize the sailors were British until it was too late to back down.
If this is the case, we can expect that after a few days of high-profile posturing, the Iranians will release the British sailor unharmed.
They'll most likely hold on to the boats, however.
That's what I was thinking too (25 years).
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