Iran shows navy captives on TV

[Blackleaf]

Iran TV shows female navy captive

Royal Navy sailor Faye Turney shown in a video eating a meal with her captured colleagues on British TV tonight. The Iranians say they will release her.




Iranian state television has broadcast an interview with captured British female sailor Faye Turney and footage of 14 male captured colleagues.

Leading Seaman Turney, 26, said she and her colleagues had been seized in the Gulf because "obviously we trespassed" in Iranian waters (she was probably forced into saying).

She said her captors were "friendly", "thoughtful" people and she and her colleagues were unharmed.

Earlier Iran said it would release Leading Seaman Turney "very soon".

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said she would be released on Wednesday or Thursday.

Earlier the UK said it was suspending bilateral contacts with Iran amid the dispute over Friday's incident in the Gulf.

Eight sailors and seven marines were taken at gunpoint by Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

They were seized after they had searched a merchant vessel.


'Issue under consideration'

Iran has insisted the group, based on HMS Cornwall, which has its home port in Plymouth, were in its waters when they were taken.

Speaking on the sidelines of an Arab summit he was attending in Saudi Arabia Mr Mottaki said:

"Today or tomorrow, the lady will be released."

He later told reporters: "The issue is under consideration. I think it will be solved soon based on rules and regulations. I think I have informed you that the lady will be released very soon."

His comments came shortly after Tony Blair said it was time to "ratchet up" pressure on Iran.

Earlier, the Ministry of Defence issued data it said proved the group had been 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters when they were seized.

Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Charles Style, gave detailed co-ordinates which he said proved that.

The co-ordinates were 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north, 048 degrees 43.08 minutes east.

The MoD backed up its assertion by releasing a photograph of a handheld global positioning satellite device in HMS Cornwall's Lynx helicopter as it overflew the searched merchant vessel, confirming its position.

Vice Admiral Style said the sailors had been "ambushed" and their detention was "unjustified and wrong".

The UK government said the Iranians initially said the merchant vessel had been at a point within Iraqi waters, before later providing a second, alternative position, within Iranian waters.

Iran's embassy in London issued a statement in response to the UK data, in which it said the sailors and marines had been 0.5 km inside Iranian waters at the time they were seized.

The statement, quoted by the official IRNA news agency, said "the governments of Iran and Britain have the ability to solve the incident through contacts and close co-operation". The BBC has been told the group are being held at an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps base in Tehran.

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


news.bbc.co.uk

 

[mabudon]

That is one wiggly arbitrary-lookin border to be sure- no wonder it's disputed, especially since the US now "owns" Iraq- I wouldn't give an inch to someone who has declared the intent to destroy ME either tho

 

[crit13]

So after Iran figures out that they were in Iraqi waters, they decide to change their story and make up a location within Iranian waters.

What a bunch of baffoons.

 

[EagleSmack]

So after Iran figures out that they were in Iraqi waters, they decide to change their story and make up a location within Iranian waters.

What a bunch of baffoons.

That pretty much sums it up. The first coordinates the Iranians gave out were in Iraqi waters. When that was pointed out they changed the location to two miles away. WHOOPS!

BUUUUUUUUUSTEEEEEEEEED!

I also like how they force the British woman to wear the shawl over her head. Why are there no feminist raging about that? Men are telling her (a woman) how to dress. I guess that must be OK since they are Iranians.

 

[MHz]

Too bad they didn't release the movements of the ship in that 1 and 1/2 hours.

 

[EagleSmack]

Too bad they didn't release the movements of the ship in that 1 and 1/2 hours.

Please explain?

 

[Curiosity]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6496559.stm

Last Updated: Monday, 26 March 2007, 18:13 GMT 19:13 UK

Murky dividing lines of Shatt al-Arab

The territorial waters of the Shatt al-Arab waterway between Iraq and Iran are central to the dispute between Tehran and London over 15 Royal Navy personnel seized by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

The HMS Cornwall has been operating in the Shatt al-Arab


Tehran claims it arrested the 15 because they had strayed into Iranian waters while on a routine patrol. The UK insists it was in Iraqi waters.
Iraq expert Toby Dodge, of the University of London's Queen Mary college, told the BBC News website that the Shatt al-Arab median line was first agreed between the two countries in the 1970s.
"There was an agreement between Iran and the Iraqi government that divided the Shatt al-Arab in half in 1978," he said.

The demarcation of the waterway has suffered like many things

Toby Dodge


And up until recent years the median line was marked simply with buoys, he added.
"But the demarcation of the waterway has suffered like many things," he said.
Admiral Sir Alan West, who was first sea lord in 2004, when Iran detained eight UK serviceman accused of straying into Iranian territory, said the waters were "very complicated".
To make sure they did not stray into Iranian waters, Royal Navy personnel leaving their mother ship on smaller patrol boats would have charts detailing Iranian territory, Iraqi territory, disputed territory and international waters.
"Drawn on will be areas in which to operate and this will also be drawn on digital screens," he told the BBC News website.
"GPS will continuously tell them their position in the water."
'Constantly checking'
A Foreign Office spokesman explained how the Royal Navy confirm their location.
"They are constantly checking on the situation to ensure they are working in our waters," he said.
"They have logs and charts to tell them the co-ordinates of Iranian and Iraqi waters."
"They will use GPS machines which will give them a fixed location and plot this against charts which will tell them where different countries' waters are."
But the Ministry of Defence has so far refused to release the co-ordinates of where they believe the vessel was when the sailors were seized.
No meeting
The boats would be under the control of the mother ship, in this case the HMS Cornwall, Sir Alan said.
"If they're heading out of the water, the mother ship will say 'you're going out' and get them to come back in."

The commission is meant to sit regularly to discuss and arbitrate exactly where the median line down the Shatt al-Arab goes because it does move with the seasons

Admiral Sir Alan West


Sir Alan said a commission would usually meet every two or three years to agree exactly where the median line should be.
"The commission is meant to sit regularly to discuss and arbitrate exactly where the median line down the Shatt al-Arab goes because it does move with the seasons and each year it moves in shifts because it's quite a flow of water," he said.
"The commission would consist of representatives, principally of Iran and Iraq, sitting around a table and deciding where the line would be. There are other people involved to mediate."
The commission had not met for a few years because of the war, he added.
"We know the waters are difficult and tricky but we know, quite clearly, areas that are clearly Iraqi, and clearly Iranian," he said.
"If there's water that's a little bit difficult, a little bit disputed, then our people do not go there because we know of the sensitivities."
Richard Schofield, an expert in international boundaries at King's College London, questioned whether the dispute would be eased if the Royal Navy released co-ordinates of where the sailors were seized.
"Releasing the co-ordinates wouldn't necessarily help us as there is no formally agreed boundary," he said.
"It isn't clear the incident happened off the water of Shatt al-Arab. We are talking about territorial waters beyond." "Iran and Iraq have never agreed a boundary of their territorial waters. There is no legal definition of the boundary beyond the Shatt al-Arab."

 

[TenPenny]

So after Iran figures out that they were in Iraqi waters, they decide to change their story and make up a location within Iranian waters.

What a bunch of baffoons.

Buffoons, or not, who's holding who captive?

 

[MHz]

Please explain?

One article I've read said they boarded at 7:40 and disembarked at 9:10
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6502805.stm
"HMS Cornwall's Lynx helicopter had been monitoring the initial stages of the boarding of the Indian-flagged merchant ship, at 0739 local time on 23 March. Communications with the boarding team were lost at the time the boarding ended - at 0910."

That is an 1 1/2 hours. The ship wasn't at anchor when boarded. How far did it move in that time?

On Friday when it happened the story was that it was an Iranian merchant vessel, now its from India. Why the few days before that part is clarified. The earlier story had the Iranian Harbor Patrol being summoned by the Captain of the ship that was being boarded. It's a totally different script now.

 

[MHz]

I found the link to that earlier version.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032307A.shtml
"[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]A U.S. military official who monitors the region told CNN the Marines stopped an Iranian ship suspected of smuggling automobiles, and boarded it for an inspection."[/FONT][/FONT]

 

[MHz]

From the OP,
"The co-ordinates were 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north, 048 degrees 43.08 minutes east."

The ones in the picture being published are N29 50 174 & E48 42 544.
That is about 1/2 mile between those two points

 

[ChilliCheeseDog]

From the OP,
"The co-ordinates were 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north, 048 degrees 43.08 minutes east."

The ones in the picture being published are N29 50 174 & E48 42 544.
That is about 1/2 mile between those two points

that chick is kinda hot with the rag around her head. make me kinda horny. LOL

 

[earth_as_one]

The BBC quoting the British military is about as objective as the Iranian news agency quoting the Iranian military:

UK Sailors-Iran Arrests
Iran confirmed Wednesday that the detention of 15 British marines and sailors took place last Friday after they had illegally entered Iranian territorial waters in the northern part of the Persian Gulf.
"Iran has already provided the geographical coordinates of the detention to the British government and has sufficient evidence, including GPS navigator systems, to indicate the penetration of British military personnel 0.5 km deep into Iranian waters," the embassy in London said.
"Violation of international border and their intrusive act justified their detention," it said in a written statement obtained by IRNA.
In a corresponding statement, Britain's deputy chief of defence staff, Vice Admiral Charles Style confirmed that his government had been given a second set of coordinates by Iran about the detentions that were in Iranian waters.
But Styles also presented different British coordinates to claim that the British naval personnel were arrested 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters.
The Iranian Embassy said that the two governments have been closely examining and discussing the case on a daily basis due to "its sensitive security aspects."
"We are confident that Iranian and British governments are capable of resolving this security case through their close contacts and cooperation in which would prevent the reoccurrence of such incidents in the area," it said.
The statement also reassured that as the investigation continued "all British marines and sailors are in good health and condition and they enjoy welfare and Iranian hospitality."
"We understand the anxiety of their families, but they must be assured that they are in safe hands and have a better life than the risky mission in the Persian Gulf waters," it said.
The embassy also added that the legal and technical issue had "no links to any other issues" and warned that unfounded speculation and provocative rhetoric can only be "counterproductive."...

http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-20/0703286608160341.htm

Does this prove the Iranian claims are right too?

But even if the British soldiers were on the Iranian side, both sides agree the soldiers were not on a spy mission. Seems to me this "crisis" should be resolved fairly easily. At worst, Iran may insist on an inquiry.

Unless the US does something dumb.

U.S. launches show of force in Persian Gulf



Rumor of Iranian attack denied by 5th Fleet
By James Calderwood and Jim Krane - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Mar 28, 2007 9:27:41 EDT

ABOARD THE USS JOHN C. STENNIS — American warplanes screamed off two aircraft carriers Tuesday as the Navy staged its largest show of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, launching a mammoth exercise meant as a message to the Iranians.
The maneuvers with 15 warships and more than 100 aircraft were sure to heighten tensions with Iran, which has frequently condemned the U.S. military presence off its coast and is in a faceoff with the West over its nuclear program and its capture of a British naval team.
While they would not say when the war games were planned, U.S. commanders insisted the exercises were not a direct response to Friday’s seizure of the 15 British sailors and marines, but they also made clear that the flexing of the Navy’s military might was intended as a warning.
“If there is strong presence, then it sends a clear message that you better be careful about trying to intimidate others,” said Capt. Bradley Johanson, commander of the Stennis.
“Iran has adopted a very escalatory posture with the things that they have done,” he added.
Meanwhile, oil prices shot nearly 8 percent in a matter of minutes in afterhours trading Tuesday, topping $68, as rumors spread that Iranians had fired at a U.S. ship in the Persian Gulf and that Britain had taken action to free the captives....

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/03/ap_show_force_gulf_070327navy/

 

[MHz]

Maybe they should drop some marker buoys, all the lights and bells you can put on one, or way more than one.