QandO

June 21, 2004

Death Wish?
Posted by McQ

One has to wonder about the "brilliance" of this move:

Iran said Monday it had confiscated three British naval vessels and arrested eight armed crew members. The Royal Navy acknowledged it had lost contact with three small patrol boats on a routine mission in the waterway between Iraq and Iran.

Its about the "nuke" spat going on right now ... a little tit-for-tat I believe:

Iranian-British relations have been strained in recent days, since London helped draft a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors meeting last week in Vienna that rebuked Iran for past cover-ups involving its development of nuclear technology

Iran says its program is aimed only at producing energy, while the United States accuses Tehran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran accused Britain of caving in to U.S. pressure on the resolution..

Feeling a bit froggy, the Iranians had this to say.

The three British ships entered Iranian territorial waters not far from the Iran-raq border, the Arabic language Al-Alam television reported.

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

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi confirmed the report, according to Iran's main Persian language TV channel.

"Interrogation of those detained will continue until the matter is clarified," Asefi was quoted as saying.

Hmmm ... somehow I can hear the SAS gearing up from here.

If I were Iran, I'd be sending 3 boats and 8 sailors back to the Iraqi side of the gulf fairly quickly. This is an escalation in tensions that they really don't want, whether they know it or not.

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