Iran holding 15 UK Military Soldiers?

Question

Hey all what do you think about this?

Iran is saying the sailors were in Iran territory, however personally I think there just saying that.

The commander of HMS Cornwall is 100% certain they were NOT in the wrong place.

Personally I think the Iranian's should have 48 hours to release the soldiers, or have military action taken against them.

They are testing the UK to see how we react, it isn't the first time either. They did it back in 2004.

Abducting another nation soldiers is surely an act of war.

What do you guys think?

Answer 1

Iran and the rest of the world have a difference off opinion about what is Iran territorial waters. Iran says its theirs and the rest of the world says no.

the sailors are in a terrible place but I am sure they don't expect the rest of the world to go to war over them. They now how it works and will be praying for diplomatic solution or maybe a secret rescue like previous ones that didn't go really well, I don,t think.

My heart goes out to their families, lets hope they are getting plenty of support at this terrible time.

Answer 2

To be honest i don't know what to believe, the western media will always stick up for the west and the maiddle east media will always back the middle east.

Been reading a lot of Western articles but for the first time read an arab article.

A bit from the article (aljazeera.com)
an article on Craig Murray’s website disputed the claims presented by the British government, arguing that only the two neighbors; Iran and Iraq are the ones who should decide on their bilateral boundary.

The Iran/Iraq maritime boundary presented in the map UK released does not exist-it’s nothing but another lie in a long list of lies the government told its nation and the world to justify its actions since it decided to join the American President George W. Bush in his war on Iraq.

But unfortunately the claim was circulated among the vast majority of the world media. The British produced border is indeed fake, with no legal evidence to support it.

The Iran–Iraq boundary extends for 1,458 kilometers between the tripoint with Turkey on Kuh-e Dalanper and the terminal point of the Shatt al Arab in the Persian Gulf. From northwest to southeast, the line utilizes a number of high drainage divides, continues along the western edge of the foothills of the Zagros Mountains, and then crosses a broad plain to the Shatt al Arab. It follows the thalweg of the Shatt al Arab downstream for 105 kilometers (65 miles). The boundary is demarcated throughout by pillars or rivers.


ALL IN ALL; HOPEFULLY THE BRITISH SOLDIERS WILL BE RETURNED UNHARMED, ASAP AND THROUGH DIPLOMACY.
GOD-BLESS.

Answer 3

Yeah that's such a good idea, let's start another war, especially when the one we are in now is turning out so well. The commander would have said he was not in the wrong place even if he was, until real proof comes out that the soldiers were not in Iranian waters, let's not go jumping into another misguided war. After all, a couple of months ago the U.S. took Iranian diplomats from their own consulate in Iraq on charges they were supplying insurgents, of course they were released after the charges were found to be bogus, but it's a similar situation and nobody should attack anybody else.

Answer 4

The liberals are all going to say this was somehow orchestrated by Bush and that were doing this just to start a war with Iran. Look, these ships have GPS on them, if the british commander said they were in the right place I believe they were, I believe our allie over our enemy. They are doing this to guage are response, and I say we show them why we are a world power.

You dems seem to want timetables for everything, how about a timetable for if the UK troos arent back at home with their families within 48 hours time we will blockade your a$$ and you will slowly starve to death untill they are released.

Answer 5

War over 15 detained British sailors? Preposterous.

Answer 6

In 2004 Iran did release the soldiers it captured. It appears that Iran will only release the female this time. There was some talk of the others being exchanged for Iranians captured in Iraq, however, the prevailing sentiment seems to be that the 14 male British seamen will be tried for espionage. The penalty for espionage in Iran is death.

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 7

Apparently there was an Iraqi fisherman who vouches for the Brits being in Iraqi waters.
May God help those soldiers.
Rosie can shove her conspiracy theory where no man has ever gone.

Answer 8

You're going to believe anything from a country that has a terrorist for a president?

I didn't think so.

Answer 9

It IS an act of war, we need to bomb them immediately.
I sat day by day by day during the Carter Admin. while the hostages were in harms way for months!

When Reagan was elected, they let them go.

Answer 10

If they entered Iran illegally....they need to be put on trial.