Iran Seizes Three British Naval Boats and Arrests Eight British Crew Members

Published Jun 24, 2004 12:01 AM by The Maritime Executive

The British government said the men were on a "routine mission" in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway that separates Iran and Iraq along their southern border. The British Foreign Office summoned Iranian Ambassador Morteza Sarmado to demand an explanation for the naval officers' arrest.

"They will be prosecuted for illegally entering Iranian territorial waters," Al-Alam television said. The vessels were 1,000 meters inside Iranian waters, which is about a half-mile.

There is tension in Iranian-British relations, after the U.K. helped draft a resolution condemning Iran for past nuclear cover-ups at last week's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors.

Iran Foreign Ministry said that Iranian naval guards, "acting on the legal duty," seized the boats and detained the crews

The British Defense Ministry said the personnel from the Royal Navy training team based in southern Iraq were delivering a boat from Umm Qsar to Basra, Iraq.

With the July 30 handover of sovereignty to an Iraqi government approaching, the incident may represent Iran marking out its territory in the disputed waterway, said one British diplomat.