Middle East News
Row over British sailors widens to EU
By Deutsche Presse Agentur Apr 1, 2007, 0:35 GMT
Pictures of the Iran’s Arabic-language TV network Al-Alam of British captive marine Nathan Thomas Summers on Friday, 30 March 2007. Summers apologised to the Iranian nation for violation of its territorial waters by him and the other 14 British marines. EPA/AL-ALAM-TV
The row between Iran and Britain over the seizure of British sailors widened with a sharp response from Tehran to the European Union's condemnation of the incident.
Meanwhile, US President George W Bush on Saturday described the 15 British Navy personnel as 'hostages' and said that their capture by Iran was 'inexcusable.' The remarks were his first on the March 23 seizure of a British vessel in what Tehran claims were Iranian waters.
London insists that the British Navy vessel was legally in Iraqi waters.
The seven sailors and eight Royal Marines were seized from a British patrol boat in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, triggering the diplomatic row between Tehran and London.
In Bremen, Germany, EU foreign ministers called for the sailors' release. Iran's ambassador to Russia said from Moscow that he was mistakenly cited as saying that the 15 British sailors and marines could face trial.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as host of the EU foreign ministers meeting, called for the immediate release of the British Navy personnel, saying the crisis must be resolved before Tehran starts legal proceedings against the sailors.
'A solution has to be sought before things are brought to a trial and before the sailors are sentenced,' Steinmeier told reporters. 'We are standing shoulder to shoulder with the United Kingdom.'
The EU's renewed appeal came as aides to the bloc's chief diplomat, Javier Solana, held first contacts with the Iranian authorities on the crisis.
Solana told reporters that he hoped 'in the coming weeks to have positive news' on the detained sailors. Direct telephone discussions between Solana and chief Iranian nuclear negotiator are expected to take place next week.
In Tehran, the Iranian Foreign Ministry Saturday warned the EU to avoid 'irresponsible reaction' over the detained Britons, the official news agency IRNA reported.
'The European Union foreign ministers must seriously avoid irresponsible and imprudent reactions over the bilateral dispute between Tehran and London,' said the statement carried by the agency.
The Foreign Ministry further called on the EU to encourage the British government to find a mutual solution to the dispute.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told BBC television of London's hope to resolve the dispute.
'Things have gone a little quieter, and we hope that this is a good sign,' she was quoted as saying at the EU meeting in Bremen. 'What we want is a way out of this, we want it peacefully, and we want it as soon as possible.'
She added that London had continued 'to express our willingness to engage in dialogue and discussion to come to a resolution of this issue.'
Beckett confirmed that London had answered a diplomatic message from Tehran in which the Iranians had given their explanation of the events of the March 23 seizure of the British vessel and personnel.
According to BBC, the Iranian message no longer expressly demanded from London an apology over the incident.
The dispute took on an added twist Saturday when Iran's ambassador to Moscow said he had been mistakenly quoted in indicating that Iran might put the 15 on trial.
The ambassador, Gholam-Reza Ansari, sought in remarks carried by the official news agency IRNA to clarify what he had told Russian television channel Vesti-24 a day earlier.
'I only told the (Russian) television on Friday that the case of detention of British sailors has taken on a judicial form,' said the ambassador. 'The TV network made a mistake in translating part of the interview concerning the arrested British servicemen and declared by mistake the possibility of their trial.'
Iran's state news agency IRNA had earlier quoted Ansari as telling Vesti-24 that legal actions against the detained British sailors had begun and that the captives may face trial if there was enough evidence to prove charges against them.
Ansari was quoted as saying they 'will be tried if there is enough evidence of guilt,' a remark that he later said was mistranslated.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
An imminent attack on the oil fields of Persia animates at present the interest fantasies of the oil markets. Related to Rich's Persian oil speculations: Last Tuesday in the morning I observed this dealer. I acted as a boss at the stock exchange.
To Whom This May be of Concern:
Iran has proved it is no friend of ours, to Israel, & to freedom. Nuke those towelheaded camel jockies till they glow & be done with them, Do not make the mistake of thinking now that Iran is close to having nuclear capabilities that the first thing they will not do is nuke the U S A. Pound Iran into a glass parking lot, & be done with the problem quick & easy! Why do you think Almighty God blessed this nation with nuclear technology. We have the responsibility weather we like it or not to protect freedom. Nuke em till they glow!
Clarification: The ship that was boarded by the British personnel was an Indian merchant ship in Iraqi waters. As such they were required to allow them to board.
As for the present situation, the parading around of the sailors on TV and the so-called letters by the Marines clearly shows that the Iranians are using this a a stupid propaganda trick. I mean do they really think that ANY educated neutral party is likely to fall for it? The words of those letters and those statements on TV leave no doubt that there is some stupid Iranian guy sitting there writing these statements for them to read under threats by the Revolutionary Guards. But if nothing else, just the language of these 'statements' show that the British captives are being pressured and probably threatened to say these things. If the Iranians had any brains, they should release the sailors because they HAVE already made the point to the British govt. that they will defy them no matter what. By prolonging this and by parading the sailors around like this, Iran is only causing damage to whatever reputation it does have left out there.
Michael, although the sentiment about frustration is shared by me, nuking them or anyone else is not really practical nowadays since the fallout would be too great and cause a much bigger mess. I feel the same anger and frustration especially since Iran is sponsoring unrest in Iraq and causing the deaths of OUR men and women! I think what the US needs to do is quadruple the amount of CIA operatives and sabotage these idiot governments from the inside. If they want to be sneaky terrorists and crap, lets play the game their way, on their land. Lets see how they react to bombs and to Americans driving planes into their buildings....
let them get the taste of their own medicine!
This is the latest chapter in a long history of Iranian hostage taking. They are going to continue with these stunts as long as the rest of the world lets them get away with it.
Regardless of short term price spikes, the Iranians should be prevented from selling oil or importing gasoline. This would cripple their economy in no time and bring them back to the negotiating table over our hostages and their nuclear weapons programme.
If Russia and China object to this in the security council it should be done unilaterally by the British navy with the help of the Americans. Enough is enough, it is long past time these fascist ayatollahs were dealt to bring them to reality.
Obviously restraint is what is needed. When there is a threat of the world throwning nuclear bombs around, there should be a thought of pause to consider the consequenses. It's easy to think of the consequences as local. but nuclear radiation is global.
It is obvious what is going on.
The United Nations is making rules, so Iran is making rules.
The United Nations won't back down and neither will Iran.
Iran is asking and will get a showdown.
That MokMood Idenijod guy has to be nuts.
Didn't he see what happened to Iraq?
Does he think he will win?
Is he forcing some Islamic showdown?
It does not have to reach a saturation point where The British and Iranians pait themselves to the corner. And as for Mr. Bush, he should speak for himself. Our CIA, FBI and British MI can pick up people from streets of USA, Italy, Middle East and other parts of the world under sick intentions, tortured yest find a way to justify it and sell this act to the world as war on terror.
I wish we America would finally declare that we are the empire and everyone needs to bow to us.
Simple, 24, have CTU send in Jack Bauer...done...finished
If I were running the UK. I would mass a huge armada there and turn Tehran to rubble. I think this would send the right message to the JIHAD loosers who think they can take over the world with their religion of hate. Hate em back. works for me.
Iran has every reason to Bully the world, when so much of the world's oil consumption comes from that region. At present, they don't control the world politically, but they do control it with their resources. They are stupid politically, but rich in resource. They are acting that way!
My buddies the Iranian Foreign Ministry Saturday warned the EU to avoid 'irresponsible reaction' over the detained Britons, the official news agency IRNA reported with a semi automatic handgun at everyones head.
'The European Union foreign ministers must seriously provide a place we can pee or dump a loada without dogging a hole. Please stop the irresponsible and imprudent porta potty segragation laws over the bilateral dispute between to wipe or not to wipe,' said the statement carried by the agency.
Carry a gun - shoot em' all
I have my check book out would gladly pay five US a gallon if I thought I could cripple thier economy..The US Majority has spoken
Please get rid of that annoying pop-up, I don't care what my former classmates are doing,I'm sick of deleting it...anyways...I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Iran is not to be trusted. This country's government does not subscribe to the notion of diplomacy, only narrow minded posturing. Enough! This has been going on for far too long, with far too much restraint shown by the greatest countries in the world. I hate to say it, but it is time to teach the Iranian government a lesson...one which they won't forget.
J maxx
AMEN
Well
First of all britain has no bussiness 13.000km away from its shores!
Second I heard those 15 were not sailors but british terrorists.
Their goal was to enter iran and blow some roads and kill a lot of innocent people.
So iran have every right to sieze them and put those terrorists on trail.
BTW Iran has missles capable of hitting LONDON! and sure they got some nuke warheads too.
So don't ever wish for a war my freinds.
Otherwise USA or Israel already hit iran.
yeh dont get me wrong. I dont like the mullah regme in iran.
I just watch it froma third person eyes.
Mr_X
You should get some spectacles it seems your thrid person can't see the keyboard much less the world!!!
@An American
take it that way.
What would happened if those 15 were iranian sailors in british shores!!?
Well its clear british authorities put a tatoo marked 'Terrorist' on those sailors butt and sent them to their cousine ( USA ) and they ended up in Guantanamo Bay.
As for the British government's assertion that the incident happened in Iraqi waters, the maritime boundary shown in the map by the British does not exist and has no legal basis.
The boundary between Iran and Iraq in the northern Persian Gulf has never been fixed. Within the Shatt-al-Arab itself a line was fixed, but was to be updated every ten years because the waterway shifts, according to the treaty. It has not been updated in over twenty years. So, ultimately, it comes down to political negotiating skills between a vast range of justifiable possible agreements.
Moreover, if you look at those coordinates, there are closer to Iranian land than Iraqi land. Don't take my word for it, you can check it yourself. That is just to show that there are definitely genuine factors that could support an argument, in the boundary determination that is yet to happen, that this location should be in Iranian waters.
All this doesn't change my view that, having made its point, Iran should have handed back the soldiers already. On the other hand, the British government should not have produced a fake map, since that was provocative, and only hardened Iran's attitude.
Sadly, both countries are behaving like idiots, and the British captives are paying the price.
Dave G.
Clearly you have not been following this story very closely otherwise you would have seen the amazingly funny press brief, wherein the Iranians produced the coorodinates at which they claimed the Brits were taken. It was then pointed out, that according to Irans measure the Brits were still in Iraqi water, several minutes later the Iranians then produced another map ref which they swore were the correct ones...lol.
Secondly the Iranians are not 'making a point', rather they are trying to hold a hostages for leverage against further UN sanctions, or a decrese in those already passed. None of you guys remember Saddams patting the terrified young boy on the head before GW1? Its the same lame tactics.
Much as I would like (as many posters here) to see Iran flat and glowing in the dark, its just not nessesary. They have only one petro chemical processing plant, hit that and then block them sending oil to Saudi for refinement and the arguement is done. Their economy would crash so fast its laughable. With that done the idiot mullah and his pet chimp would likely be swinging from a lampost alla Mussoline 44 by the hands of their own (nasty scumbag) people.
Last thought is why the UN/NATO is not currently kicking the crap out of Iran for kidnapping UN personnel which is what the Brits were doing there in the first place. Ohh I know, its cause the UN and are decrepit, corrupt bunch of back stabbers and NATO is staffed by Euro appeasers and cowardly Germans and French.
RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 11, No. 60, Part III, 30 March 2007
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on March 29 denouncing a 'bold and provocative' act by British forces against its consulate-general in the southern Iraqi city of Al-Basrah, ISNA reported. The ministry communique stated that British military vehicles arrived near the Iranian Consulate building before noon on March 29 and 'besieged' the consulate by repeatedly driving past or around the compound 'effectively for an hour and 20 minutes,' ISNA reported. The ministry said the number of British forces gradually increased, that they 'violated' the consular building, and that there was shooting. Iran's consul in Al-Basrah, Mohammad Reza Nasir, told AFP the same day that British troops entered the consular building for 10 minutes and there was a shoot-out. The British Army denied its troops left their cars and stated that its forces were shot at near the consulate, AFP reported. There were no reported casualties. ISNA observed that the incident, following 'the blatant violation of Iran's waters by two British ships,' raised 'doubts' on 'the real motives of the British in the actions they have taken in recent days.' The Iranian Foreign Ministry 'immediately' protested with the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, ISNA reported on March 29. Consul Nasir told AFP he thinks the incident is related to the recent capture of British sailors.
Ahh Ivor you still on the jihadists side? When you gonna learn that any thing the Iranians claim is for the most part laughable? You claim to be from London right? remember the little embassy seige their about 20 yrs ago? You still claiming that Iran wasnt behind it even though we handed their arse to them in a sling?
Ivor still thinks that Gen Eisenhower was jewish lol....
UK VERSION OF EVENTS
1 Crew boards merchant ship 1.7NM inside Iraqi waters
2 HMS Cornwall was south-east of this, and inside Iraqi waters
3 Iran tells UK that merchant ship was at a different point, still within Iraqi waters
4 After UK points this out, Iran provides alternative position, now within Iranian waters
I actually burst out laughing when I heard the Iranian's first coordinates were in Iraqi waters, then when the British pointed it out, they quickly changed them to Iranian waters.
It just shows how stupid they are.
London Bombings,911,British GPS stunt an inside job>
www.downloadtruth.com
www.infowars.com
some one should brush the teeth of those 15 brits everyday and feed them fish and chips everyday
The solution to this problem is that those 15 guys should work in iranian nuclear facility and help Iran speed up their nuclear work.If they do their work properly,they should be given iranian citizenship and naturalised.They have a right to live in iran.They look so happy in all the footage.
should england be a state of Iran? Pls discuss
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Several small blasts rocked the British embassy in Iran and smoke rose from inside the compound in central Tehran on Sunday during a protest over 15 detained sailors and marines, but no one was hurt.
The 5 posts above are all from the same sick person.
Anyway:
'In separate developments yesterday, Downing Street was passed evidence purporting to show that the arrest of the British sailors was planned days in advance. Hossein Abedini, spokesman for the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran, said the arrests were a 'meticulously concocted operation' to divert attention from Iran's nuclear programme.'
It sounds like a bunch of grade school boys going back and forth on the play ground or kids in the back seat of the car complaining that the person beside them is getting into their space...........And by the looks of some of the comments here, the U.S. is doing an incredibly bad job of teaching spelling and English in our schools.............
The abduction of coalition forces was an act of war!!! The reason for the abduction had little to do with the western world and much more to do with the growing dissatisfaction of the Iranian people for the suicidal tendencies of their government. You see it is a fact that the Iranian people overwhelmingly support the Non-Proliferation treaty and that 7 out of 10 Iranians prefer that their country be a nuclear free zone. All of this flies in the face of the goals and desires of the Iranian government and so in an effort to incite nationalistic fervor, they abduct 15 British soldiers on the very day that U.N. sanctions are voted for. If the western world wasn’t so determined to get the coalition troops back, we would simple leave the task of regime change to the Iranian people themselves. A word of warning here, the Iranian government will kill as many of it’s constituents as is required to keep it’s power. How many Iranians are dead already for such serious offenses as wanting a better future for their countrymen.
'JMaxxApr 1st, 2007 - 05:45:50
Please get rid of that annoying pop-up, I don't care what my former classmates are doing,I'm sick of deleting it.'
Turn off the Java script in your browser. It makes this site bearable.
It seems like some readers have lost their mind and frankly their common sense too (like Michael Milner). Considering your comments, you seem to be too naive to discuss world issues. You basically portray a typical Israeli cabinet minister or other bloodsucking creatures, not mainstream Jew. This war is not about people and they should always be left out of the harms way. This war is about our (Western) desire for oil, influence over and further isolation of Islamic world. We better learn to respect eachother's boundaries, eachother's freedom and learn to co-exist or none of us will exist.
David M (or should I say Ali?)
'We better learn to respect eachother's boundaries, eachother's freedom and learn to co-exist or none of us will exist.'
What? You mean like not kidnapping each other from other countries? The Irony of the Islamic commentators on this site is a constant source of amusement for me. But you all know the old saying 'denile is a river in Eygpt'.
David M.
To me it sounds like YOU have lost your mind.
How on earth can you say this is about oil?
Iran has kidnapped 15 British sailor's and they will not release them, this is nothing about the Western world wanting more oil...
From a very confused Dave.... :S
page: 1
Viraf Cooper, MDApr 1st, 2007 - 01:34:58
If one waits patiently, perhaps flaring tempers may cool down sufficiently enough that there is a positive resolution to this crisis. Obviously, the Iranian captain allowed the UN directive to proceed by allowing the sailors on board their vessel. It would be conspiratorial if the captain knew the sailors were violating Iranian waters, allowed them on board for inspection, then imprisoned them.
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