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Iran, Britain in first open clash since 2004

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, March 26, 2007

BAGHDAD — Iran and Britain have again clashed in the Gulf.

The British Defence Ministry reported that Iran has detained 15 British Royal Navy personnel during a "routine boarding operation" in Iraqi waters on March 23. The ministry has demanded the immediate release of the British naval personnel.

"We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level and on the instructions of the Foreign Secretary, the Iranian ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office," the ministry said on March 23. "The British government is demanding the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment."

This was the first confrontation between the two adversaries since Iran captured six British marines and two sailors in the Shatt Al Arab waterway in 2004. The Britons were released three days later, Middle East Newsline reported.

The ministry said that at 10:30 a.m. on March 23, 15 British naval personnel in two inflatable patrol boats engaged in "routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters." The ministry said that at that point the British sailors were captured by Iranian naval vessels.

Officials said the British Navy boats were based aboard the HMS Cornwall frigate when they were confronted by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Since 2003, Britain has been patroling the northern Gulf and Shatt Al Arab, shared by Iran and Iraq.

Teheran countered that the two British Navy boats had entered Iranian territorial waters. The Iranian government said the British patrols had entered Iranian waters several times previously, and that the sailors confessed to intentionally violating Iranian sovereignty.

Earlier, the British military accused Iran of financing Shi'ite insurgents in southern Iraq. The military said Iran has been funding and training attacks on British troops.

Lt. Col. Justin Maciejewski said Shi'ites were receiving $500 per month from Iran to attack coalition troops in the Basra area. Maciejewski, quoting Iraqi community leaders, told BBC radio on March 23 that the Shi'ite insurgents have received advanced weapons from Teheran.

"All the information we are getting from the locals in Basra is that the vast majority of the violence against us is inspired from outside of Iraq and the people here very much believe that that is Iran," Maciejewski said. "There is nothing I have seen that would disprove what they are telling me."


Copyright © 2007 East West Services, Inc.

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