Iran captures British Marines
Fifteen Royal Navy personnel seized by Iran yesterday have been taken to Tehran, the Middle Eastern country's Fars news agency has claimed.
The Royal Navy sailors and marines, traveling in high-speed inflatable rafts through the cramped waters off the Iranian and Iraqi coasts, had just finished inspecting an Iranian-flagged dhow for contraband Friday morning when they were surrounded by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps gunboats, detained and hauled off to a nearby Iranian military base.
British diplomats are continuing to demand the immediate release of the eight sailors and seven marines taken captive in the Gulf yesterday.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is adamant that its personnel were in Iraqi waters when they were seized at gunpoint, but Tehran insists they had strayed into Iranian territory.
It emerged yesterday that the 15 individuals had been seized at 10:30 local time (07:30 GMT) in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, in what the MoD described as "routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters".
Pat Dollard sees this as further indication Iran is increasingly involved in the war by its own volition, and evidence against those who say Bush is exaggerating Iran's influence in Iraq. [h/t Michelle Malkin]
Walid Phares @ The Counterterrorism Blog has a take.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Europe's foreign policy chief said Saturday that the Iranian seizure of 15 British sailors and marines would not derail what was expected to be a unanimous U.N. Security Council vote for modestly tougher sanctions over Tehran's refusal to stop enriching uranium. [The Guardian]
The vote is scheduled at 3 p.m. ET today barring any last minute changes when the latest text is sent to governments of the 15 council members for final approval. [National Post]
Learn more about Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a "state within a state" which has its own Navy, in the continuation.
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The most ominous detail about Iran's seizure of 15 British Royal Marines in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway on Friday morning is that the servicemen were reportedly taken into custody by the navy of the Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC is a powerful, separate branch of the Iranian armed forces. Soaked with nationalist ideology, it has grown into a state within a state in Iran, with its own naval, air and ground forces, parallel to official government institutions. The IRGC is directly controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, the ultimate font of religious and political power in Iran. The IRGC also has its own intelligence arm and commands irregular forces such as the basij — a voluntary paramilitary group affiliated with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — and the Quds force, which has been accused by the U.S. of supplying material to Iraqi insurgents bent on killing American soldiers. The IRGC is also known for its clandestine activities including logistical support for militant organizations like Lebanon's Hizballah, which it helped to set up in the 1980s, and several Shi'a militia groups in Iraq. The IRGC's activities are often a thorn in the side of Iran's Foreign Ministry, which is forced to repair the ruptures in Tehran's diplomatic relations with countries the Guard has inflamed with its self-directed adventures. Nevertheless, it has been one of Iran's main instrument in projecting power and influence over the last few decades.
Remember the Pueblo? 23JAN07 was the 39th anniversary of its seizure (see A-C-E post). Our sailors were eventually released (months later), after NK milked all the PR value it could, but NK still has the ship on display. [Wikipedia image] Countries don't start major wars over things like this -- IF the people released unharmed in a reasonable amount of time. Unless a country is looking for a "causi bellum." Remember the Maine?
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