British sailors confessed to aggression into Iran's waters?

Question

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/iran_britainTEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The Iranian military questioned 15 detained British sailors and marines Saturday and said they had confessed to illegally entering Iranian waters in an act of "blatant aggression."


Britain has demanded the return of the sailors and marines and denied they had strayed into Iranian waters while searching for smugglers off Iraq's coast.


The eight sailors and seven marines were brought to Tehran for questioning, and a top military official, Gen. Ali Reza Afshar, said they "confessed to illegal entry into Iran's waters."


"The said personnel are being interrogated and have confessed to aggression into the Islamic Republic of Iran's waters," Afshar was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA and the semi-official ISNA news agency. He did not say what would be done with the Britons

Iranians collect British seamen off Iraqi coast: hostage situation feared
Updated 03/23/07 16:55 Israel time
Is Iranian President and former hostage-taker Mahmoud Ahmadinejad up to his old tricks? An Iranian navy force seized 15 British sailors and marines, forcing them to board one or more Iranian vessels. Up to six ships of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy were involved in the seizure. Iran is claiming that the British patrol violated its territory in a disputed waterway near its border with Iraq in the Persian Gulf. http://web.israelinsider.com/home.htm

An Iranian military official said Saturday afternoon that the 15 detained British sailors "confessed" to illegally entering Iranian waters.

The sailors, taken at gunpoint Friday by Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Al Quds soldiers were captured intentionally and are to be used as bargaining chips to be used for the release of five Iranians who were arrested at the Iranian consul in Irbil, Iraq by US troops, an Iranian official told the daily paper Asharq al-Awsat on Saturday.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/iran_britain

Answer 1

Iran is in a heap of trouble.....

Iran is dealing with two issues. First, Iran has captured 15 British sailors. Second, Iran has refused to cooperate with the U.N. regarding cessation of uranium enrichment.

Military confrontation may be on the horizon.
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3961
In addition to the British naval vessels at the Diego Garcia atoll in the Indian ocean, there is a multi-national force in the Persian Gulf. The British HMS Cornwall aircraft carrier strike group, the American aircraft carrier strike group Bremerton-based aircraft carrier CVN-74 John C. Stennis, the American aircraft carrier strike group USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the French nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle and its task force are all in close appoximation in the Persian Gulf. The USS Nimitz may also be in the Persian Gulf as it was scheduled for its WESTPAC07 deployment to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/navy/batgru-68.htm

More details about military options can be found here:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iran-strikes.htm

Iran has elicited "confessions" from the 15 British sailors they captured and may put them on trial for espionage. The penalty for espionage in Iran is death.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article1563877.ece
“If it is proven that they deliberately entered Iranian territory, they will be charged with espionage. If that is proven, they can expect a very serious penalty since according to Iranian law, espionage is one of the most serious offences.” Espionage carries a death sentence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6493391.stm
Iran's detention of 15 Royal Navy personnel is "unjustified and wrong", Prime Minister Tony Blair has said. UK officials are waiting to be granted access to the HMS Cornwall staff, who were seized on Friday, and have not been told where the group are held.

"It simply is not true that they went into Iranian territorial waters and I hope the Iranian government understands how fundamental an issue this is for us," Mr Blair said.

"We have certainly sent the message back to them very clearly indeed. They should not be under any doubt at all about how seriously we regard this act, which is unjustified and wrong."

On March 23, 2007, U.S. and British officials said a boarding party from the frigate HMS Cornwall was seized about during a routine inspection of a merchant ship inside Iraqi territorial waters near the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway.

The seizure of two Royal Navy inflatable boats took place just outside the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, a 125-mile channel dividing Iraq from Iran. Its name means Arab Coastline in Arabic, and Iranians call it Arvandrud - Persian for Arvand River. A 1975 treaty recognized the middle of the waterway as the border.

Iranians send arms to Iraqi extremists, including sophisticated roadside bombs. This week, two commanders of an Iraqi Shiite militia told The Associated Press in Baghdad that hundreds of Iraqi Shiites had crossed into Iran for training by the elite Quds force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard thought to have trained Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

Regarding enrichment of uranium, Iranian President Mahmaoud Ahmadinejad abruptly cancelled his appearance before the U.N. security council and in his stead, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Iran spoke. He indicated that Iran was willing to continue negotiations but without the precondition that uranium enrichment must be halted.

Mottaki said, "the world has two options to proceed on the nuclear issue: continued negotiations or confrontation. Choosing the path of confrontation ... will have its own consequences. "
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070325/D8O3E7J00.html

The U.N. security council unanimously voted to expand sanctions on March 24, 2007.

The new resolution 1747 calls on Iran to comply fully with all previous UN resolutions and join negotiations to reach agreement so as to restore international confidence in the peaceful nature of its nuclear program. Full transparency and cooperation with the IAEA are required. Suspension of Iran’s banned nuclear activities will elicit the parallel suspension of sanctions. The package of incentives offered Tehran last year for its cooperation remains on the table.

The full text of the draft of resolution 1747 appears at this website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6455853.stm
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Answer 2

I bet they admitted to the whole thing and trying to start a war. Iran just used a little prolonged standing and some water boarding and the sailors were implicated in 9/11

Answer 3

Standing orders allow prisoners to say these type of comments to avoid torture or mistreatment. The P.O.W.'s in Viet Nam were forced to say things in front of the press that were not true to avoid beatings and torture. P.O.W.'s in Desert Storm were used as propaganda tools and appeared on world wide T.V. with beaten faces. The Viet Nam P.O.W.'s made the statements and Life Magazine had a cover picture of them and edited out them giving the finger to the photographer so those at home would know they were chorused

Answer 4

There was no confession, GPS coordinates prove that they where not in Iranian "terrortory". This is the exact same thing that the Iranians did to the British in 2004.

The Iranians are now demanding the release of 5 insurgents under arrest by the US.

This is a hostage situation, luckily Jimmy Carter isn't president, he would have to lock himself in the White House again.

Answer 5

Well their media system is state run and ours is run by the liberals, so you can't believe anything either one of them say
Give you a great tip, the libs will remove our troops from Iraq, within 3 months the American Media will be on all the news reporting how awful it is in Iraq, after removing the troops, that we should do something to help the people of Iraq, like sending in troops to restore order, wait and see if they doon't turn this thing around
, I ve seen it too many times, they whine about sending troops, then whine to remove them, then whine that we should send them back to help, LOL

Answer 6

If you really believe anything the Iranian government tells you, then I would like to offer you some wonderful beach frontage in Nevada. It will one day be on the Gulf of Baja California just as soon as we get the environmental study completed to open a one mile wide canal from the gulf to Death Valley. 25 acre lots with 1 acre of beach front are available now for the low price of $25,000.00 Ten per cent down and ten percent per annium for 30 years. Heck of a deal better jump on it now!!!!!!!!

Answer 7

That's according to Iran. I don't think Iran's very trustworthy at this point. They had an ace in the hole at one point: the UN weapons inspectors said that it appeared as though Iran had stopped enriching Uranium. Iran replied with, "No we haven't."

It's pretty clear that Iran is trying to **** someone off.

Answer 8

Your Yahoo link didn't work, and according to CNN, that is the IRANIAN position. Gee, what a f*ing surprise.

Do you honestly think that Iran was justified in this situation?

Will you feel the same way when they attack Israel?

How far will your appeasement go?

Hot damn! Joey - we agree for once! Has the earth stopped turning?!? ;o)

Answer 9

Iran is playing a dangerous game and sadly it is the citizens that have the most to lose. The brits won't play games.

Answer 10

they confessed ---and some ppl out there still trying to defend their positions.

i am sure they r getting way far better treatment -----can u imagine if the opposite and Iranians were in American hands