Iran may have confiscated UK military vessels

[Guest Cerebus]

This isn't good...

 

Iran Confiscates U.K. Military Vessels

 

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

 

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran confiscated three British military vessels Monday and arrested eight armed crew members, state-run television reported.

 

The three British ships entered Iranian territorial waters not far from the Iran-Iraq (news - web sites) border, the Arabic language Al-Alam television reported. The station is part of the state-run Iranian radio and television network.

 

"Iranian forces confiscated the ships and eight military personnel on board," the report said.

 

The television report said crew members were carrying maps and weapons. It also said the ships were confiscated at about 11 a.m. (0630 GMT) between the Bahmanshir and Arvand rivers, which would put them in the Shatt al-Arab waterway east of the Iraqi city of Faw. The broadcast gave no further details.

 

In London, the Ministry of Defense said it was investigating the report but did not know if it was true. There were no British warships operating in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, but some smaller vessels were there, the ministry said.

 

"We are assisting the Iraqi water police there so it may be one of those vessels," a spokesman said on condition of anonymity. "We don't know."

 

The Foreign Office said British diplomats in Tehran had been in contact with the Iranian government but it was still unclear what had happened.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

what type of arnaments would these ships have?

[Guest INXS]

This ain't good at all. It seems obvious to me, without knowing exact details, that the ships possibly went a little off course of were just taking passage through Iran waters to get to where they were heading, Iraq. This could just be a storm in a teacup or the start of something pretty scary...

[EricMM 0]

So what were they doing, trespassing?

 

I wonder what the law in Iran is for that? What Iran does in this instance could be huge... (but you knew that)

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Follow the money. You'll find that the UK and Iran are pretty close because of oil. So I doubt they're in any immediate danger.

 

I'm pretty suprised that three military ships could be manned by eight people, though.

[Guest Cerebus]

I don't know much about British naval boats, but they were most likely trainers or RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boats) since they were being used for training purposes. The info is pretty sketchy right now.

[Zorin Industries 0]

From what I have read on this so far I don't think it is that serious, a couple of boats that have gone off course, the crew will probably be returned fairly soon

[Vanhalen 0]

Where the hell is this story, cos its nowhere on any UK site?

[Guest INXS]

Update on the story

 

Baron, it's all over SKY and BBC. To update, the boats in question were small, "patrol" style military boats, similar to, I suppose, military speedboats. They were chaperoning a small cargo ship, headed for Basra, when they strayed 1000 metres into Iran waters.