UK and Iran in Discrete Talks about Detained Sailors

Fifteen British sailors and marines from HMS Cornwall were detained, or kidnapped if one prefers, by Iranian forces in Iraq-Namese, or Iranian, waters on Friday. The Iranians have done this before, for example in 2004. That time, eight British personnel were released after three days. This time around, the UN is pressing Iran on its nuclear program rather hard, and there is less incentive for Iran to release their prisoners. Nonetheless, they are talking to the British government “discretely” to resolve the matter.

Mr. Blair said through a spokesman, “We are utterly confident that we [the 15 captives] were in Iraqi waters, and not just marginally in Iraqi waters but in Iraqi waters. It’s a case of tactics and if and when we have to prove that.” Apparently, they had inspected another vessel shortly before the Iranian gunboat arrived, and there should be some proof of the exact location from that incident.

The Iranians, of course, maintain that they are holding personnel who were illegally in Iranian territorial waters. The uncomfortable truth is the dividing line is rather tricky along the Iranian-Iraq-Namese border, made all the more so because the two sides haven’t agreed on the actual facts and law that applies for decades. It is certainly possible that the incident occurred innocently in Iranian waters, that the British were not-so-innocently in Iranian waters or that the whole thing happened outside Iranian jurisdiction.

What is significant is the detaining forces are Iranian Revolutionary Guards and that the Iranian government had promised some response to the UN Security Council’s vote on Saturday to further sanctions against Iran for its nuke program. The 2-week long Iranian New Year (a pre-Islamic holiday) is complicating things since a great many mid-level and top-tier decision makers are out of the loop. One could be justified in believing that the capture was undertaken by rogue elements of the Guards.

Iran, of course, has a reputation for hostage-taking (it held US diplomats for 444 days after violating the international law of embassies and diplomatic immunity right after its revolution in the late 1970s). This event only makes it look more like a rogue state to those who already believe the worst of it for its nuclear program. The war party in Washington is weakened, but it still exists, and the Revolutionary Guards are playing right into their hands. One hopes British discretion and Iranian enlightened self-interest resolve this soon. This is precisely the kind of incident that results in military action.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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