the question of the ship?

Question

everyone thinks i'm referring to HMS Cornwall i was'nt i'm referring to the ship the marines searched why was that and its crew not seized as well as the marines if both were at the same location

Answer 1

The difference is what the crew of the ship was doing. They were transiting the gulf from one port to another delivering or picking up a cargo. The British were interdicting ships and making inspections which annoy th Iranians, because they are looking for military cargos.The dispute is over territorial waters which neither side has ever agreed as to the exact definition of each countries territory (1980 war). This is a political issue and the soldiers are being used as pawns.

Answer 2

The Indian ship was manned by civilians whilst the British search personnel were foreign military personnel, that is the prime issue. Military operations need permission from the foreign states on whose territory they are operating.

I do wonder how it was that these British marines were seized, as it was reported that they were "ambushed" when they were leaving the Indian merchant ship. Surely the British helicopter flying overhead could have seen what was going to happen, and HMS Cornwall could have been closer to hand in such unfriendly waters? Could they not have been better prepared for hostile activity?

Answer 3

As can be seen from the statements made by the 'confessions' extracted from the only female in the party, this is typical old-fashioned politics. The Iranians are still in the 1960s and wonder why nobody really gives a hoot about them. It is their own internal power politics and I wonder if this might not bring down the present Iranian government. Let's hope so but not before we do our own extracting of 15 military personnel.
female in the 15 person party, the Iranians are trying, in their rather simplistic way, to make a political point. As ever, they have no clue how to deal with the West. They isolate themselves from international progress and then wonder why their house of sand is blown away.

Answer 4

The Iranian government has permitted smuggling vessels to transit THEIR territorial waters for decades !! The got BILLIONS from the Iraqi government for permitting Iraqi oil to transit the Gulf in THEIR waters from 1991-2003.

ALSO, the seizure was conducted by Iranian Revolutionary Guards "Navy" who aren't real sailors, just thugs in speed-boats... I doubt they would have been able to MOVE the merchant ship.

For those who ask "Why didn't the Cornwall intercede?" Many of these RHIB patrols operate 5-10 miles for their mother-ship... it probably happened too quickly, and ROE wouldn't permit engagement without shots fired first.

Answer 5

Yeah! What happened to that ship? I got a brief glimpse of it on the TV news - it looked like it was carrying cars as deck cargo. First think I thought was that the cars looked a 'bit second hand'. Maybe they had been stolen to order for the National Terrorist Guard of Iran - who knows.

Answer 6

Youve uncovred another slight hole in the Iranian arguement. That seem to be totally wrong about this, I dont know how this situation will be resolved as i dont think the iranians will admit they are wrong.

Answer 7

because the passengers of the iraqi ship weren't of interest. Had it been a syrian boarding party searching an iraqi ship nobody would have bothered.

Answer 8

The Iranians were not looking for civilian prisoners. They were looking for some British service-members to hold as hostages in their political games. The civilians were irrelevant.