Why did Iran keep those sailors for so long?

Question

I know it wasn't THAT long, but what was that all about? Thanks for the responses so far, interesting!

Answer 1

Part of the reason that the Britons were released is because of the threat of military conflict. The military build up is still there and Iran is still keeping its hard line on refusing to stop enriching uranium.

Iran justifies arresting the British crew because the U.S.arrested five members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Erbil in Northern Iraq on January 11.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1604546,00.html

Under the mandate of the UNSC Resolution 1723, the British team had been conducting a compliance inspection of a suspicious Iraqi merchant ship. The intercepted British crew being ambushed and surrounded by IRGC surrendered without a fight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_1723

The British sailors and marines being held by Iran were ambushed at their most vulnerable moment, while climbing down the ladder of a merchant ship and trying to get into their bobbing inflatables. It took only three minutes for the Iranians, moving at 40 knots, to move from their legitimate positions monitoring shipping in their waters to come alongside the British
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article1582544.ece

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015783.php
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article1530527.ece
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070331/ap_on_re_eu/british_seized_iran_226
Various news media reported....
Fifteen British 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.
In addition, a senior Iranian military official said Saturday that the decision to capture the soldiers was made during a March 18 emergency meeting of the High Council for Security following a report by the Al-Quds contingent commander, Kassem Suleimani, to the Iranian chief of the armed forces, Maj.Gen. Hassan Firouz Abadi. In the report, according to Asharq al-Awsat, Suleimani warned Abadi that Al Quds and Revolutionary Guards' operations had become transparent to US and British intelligence following the arrest of a senior Al Quds officer and four of his deputies in Irbil.

The first sign of a possible campaign against high-ranking Iranian officers emerged earlier this month with the discovery that Ali Reza Asgari, former commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force in Lebanon and deputy defence minister, had vanished, apparently during a trip to Istanbul.

Asgari’s disappearance shocked the Iranian regime as he is believed to possess some of its most closely guarded secrets. The Quds Force is responsible for operations outside Iran.

Last week it was revealed that Colonel Amir Muhammed Shirazi, another high-ranking Revolutionary Guard officer, had disappeared, probably in Iraq.

A third Iranian general is also understood to be missing — the head of the Revolutionary Guard in the Persian Gulf. Sources named him as Brigadier General Muhammed Soltani.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3DA5E7CF-F3AD-4478-ABB7-8B8A372E471C.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2007/02/iraq-070207-irna02.htm
http://www.cctv.com/english/20070404/101635.shtml
Jalal Sharafi, the second secretary at the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, was captured in the central Karrada district by 30 gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms in February 4, 2007 and was released on April 2, 2007
http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=234465&n=36
He arrived in Kermanshah, Iran on Thursday, April 5, 2007.

Answer 2

I originally figured they would have kept them for only a week because the UN vote on the sanctions against Iran is coming up. The Brits are lucky to have been released when they were. Iran held US hostages for 444 days in 1979, and some of the former hostages have claimed that Ahmadinejad was one of the leaders behind the invasion of the US embassy. Old habits die hard, but he finally realized that more is at stake than just a mere kidnapping.

Answer 3

The hostage taking of British troops and sailors was to create a tit for tat scenario, so Iran had a bargaining chip to get it's people back, who were captured by the US, when they were caught in Iraqi territory, near the Iranian border!

Their little ploy didn't get a chance to work. The ayatollah told Ahmadinejad, in no uncertain terms to get rid of this problem, or he would soon be a soprano !

Ahmadinejad has shown himself to be a loose cannon on the world stage. Just how much more of his crap the world is prepared to take, is on the minds of many country's !

Answer 4

Not as long as the Chinese 6 years ago during the spy-plane incident.
That took 10 days for the release.
April 1, 2001 till the 11th.

Answer 5

The Iranians wanted something. It ended up being a prisoner swap. The Iranians got back diplomat Jalal Sharafi who was seized in Iraq.

Answer 6

how long,,, properly Israel is a robust occasion,,,,, while their squaddies have been captured by ability of the Hezbollah,, they took care of that subject properly,,,, did no longer they,, ,,,,,, Bush sponsored the Lebanon government then and now,,, i do no longer think of Britain desires to start a nuclear conflict,,, nor would desire to the united states of a,,,,, the events interior the government would desire to take diplomatic action,,, perchance Condi Rice would desire to help,,,, we tremendously plenty understand that the troops are being informed to make confessions,, the Iranians have used this tactic earlier,, tighter sanctions ,,, the answer to ending the Iraq conflict isn't by ability of military would desire to,, international kinfolk is mandatory,,, the international is a huge place,, greater effective knowledgeable and smart persons are mandatory to take care of international peace,,, Clinton taught the united states of a a effectual lesson,,, he maintains to paintings with international leaders,, and tries to make the international a greater non violent and effective planet,,, yet conflict profiteers like the Bush team will defy him at each and every turn,,, money is their activity,, and capability over the folk,,,,,,, in a real democratic u . s . a .,, the ability to an end are no longer met with greed,,, incredibly the ability to a greater effective destiny.... great leaders are no longer born,, they are sensible and awesome,, they pay attention,, they study,, they are no longer surrounded by ability of people who continually trust them,,, like George W.,,, he had no one to enable him understand that he had made grave errors,, in the event that they dared,, they have been fired,,,, he, Bush,, is the applicable occasion of what to no longer do because of the fact the president, or chief of a rustic,,

Answer 7

Surely not as long as we have been throwing those into Abu Ghraib or into Guantanamo or all those secret Eastern Europe prisons???
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/03/AR2007040301634.html

Answer 8

Their philosophy is that whom ever starts a war will eventually loose.In a way they were testing the resolve of western nations to go to war.It just makes me feel bad to slap a retarded person too.

Answer 9

To take attention off them from the UN regarding their hunt for nuclear weapons.

Answer 10

They wanted them to star in YMCA the Iranian musical.