Iranian TV Airs Video of Seized British Troops - 28-03-07

Mikha

Junior Member
Iranian TV Airs Video of Seized British Troops

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

LONDON — Iran broadcast the first pictures Wednesday of the 15 British sailors and marines it seized last week, including a female captive who wore a white tunic and a black head scarf and said the British boats had "trespassed" in Iranian waters.

Britain immediately protested the airing of the footage, calling it "completely unacceptable for these pictures to be shown on television." Earlier in the day, Britain had announced it was freezing all contacts with Iran apart from negotiations to free the sailors.

The 15 have been caught in the middle of a tense dispute between the two governments about whether the sailors were operating in Iraqi waters when they were captured Friday, as Britain says, or whether they had illegally entered Iranian waters, as Iran says.

In the footage aired by Al-Alam, an Arabic-language, Iranian state-run television station, British sailor Faye Turney contradicts her government's claim that the team had not entered Iranian waters.

"Obviously we trespassed into their waters," Turney, 26, says on the video. "They were very friendly and very hospitable, very thoughtful, nice people. They explained to us why we've been arrested, there was no harm, no aggression," she said.

Turney, sitting in a room with a floral background, was also shown in uniform eating with sailors and marines and at one point was shown smoking a cigarette with eyes downcast.

British officials declined to comment on whether showing the video footage of the sailors and marines violated the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit countries from putting captured military personnel on display.

The chief spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross also declined to comment, saying the ICRC was not involved in the situation.

The video footage included a brief scene of what appeared to be the British sailors sitting in an Iranian boat in open waters immediately after their capture.

At one point, a handwritten letter from Turney is shown. In it, Turney writes, "I have written a letter to the Iranian people to apologize for us entering their waters."

• Click here to read the full text of the letter

Turney was the only person to be shown speaking in the video.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking during an Arab leaders summit meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, had said that Turney — the only female crew member — could be released later on Wednesday or on Thursday.

Prime Minister Tony Blair called the capture of the 15 Royal Navy crew "unacceptable, wrong and illegal." He told the House of Commons Wednesday that it was "now time to ratchet up the international and diplomatic pressure" on Tehran.

That included the release by the British Defense Ministry Wednesday of GPS coordinates it said proved the 15 were in Iraqi waters when they were arrested — about 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters on the Shatt al-Arab waterway. The ministry also said the Iranians had made inconsistent designations of the location where the incident occurred.

In a first act of retribution against Tehran, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett suspended bilateral talks with Tehran on all other issues. Visits by officials were stopped, issuing visas to Iranian officials suspended and British support for events such as trade missions put on hold, her office said.

President Bush spoke to British Prime Minister Tony Blair over a secured video conference call about the standoff Wednesday.

"The president fully backs Tony Blair and our allies in Britain," she said.

Oil prices rose by more than US$1 a barrel Wednesday as the sailor standoff continued and on rumors that Iran had fired a missile at a U.S. ship in the Persian Gulf.

Source - Fox News [Link]

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Mikha

Junior Member
Iran shows British sailors on television

Wed Mar 28, 2007 4:15PM EDT

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A photo released by the Ministry of Defence on March 28, 2007 shows a GPS device as seen from a Royal Navy helicopter.

LONDON (Reuters) - Iranian television showed off on Wednesday some of 15 British sailors and marines detained at sea last week, upping the ante after Britain halted official contacts with Iran.

Tehran said earlier it would free a woman among the 15 soon.

Britain said the broadcast, in which the female sailor was shown saying "obviously we trespassed into their waters", was "completely unacceptable". It also expressed concern the Britons may have been coerced into speaking.

British officials have had no access to the group, detained at a time of high tension between Iran and Western countries over Tehran's nuclear program.

Britain said there was no doubt they were in Iraqi waters and entitled to be there when they were seized, repeating a demand they be released.

An official Iranian news agency said some of the other sailors had also admitted to entering Iranian waters and expressed regret, quoting an unnamed Iranian official.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told BBC television the crisis would be solved "based on rules and regulations" and added: "The lady will be released very soon."

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett earlier told parliament Britain would freeze all official bilateral business with Iran apart from efforts to resolve the crisis.

"I am very concerned about these pictures and any indication of pressure on or coercion of our personnel who were carrying out a routine operation in accordance with international law and under a United Nations resolution in support of the Iraqi government," Beckett said in a statement after the broadcast.

British officials could not confirm the woman would be freed. She was named by British media as 26-year-old Faye Turney and said to be married with a three-year-old daughter.

A letter the Iranian embassy in London said she had written to her parents, said: "Hopefully it won't be long until I am home to get ready for Molly's birthday party..."

Al-Alam, a state-run Arabic-language television, showed Turney and several of the other sailors in uniform eating off plastic plates in a well-lit room. It also showed an interview with Turney, wearing a headscarf and smoking a cigarette.

"I was arrested on Friday the 23rd of March. Obviously we trespassed into their waters," Turney said, speaking calmly.

Britain's Defense Ministry said global positioning data showed the British sailors and marines were 1.7 nautical miles within Iraqi waters when they were captured by Iranian gunboats near the waterway that separates Iran and Iraq.

"The boats remained throughout well within Iraqi territorial waters," Britain's Deputy Chief of Defense Staff, Vice Admiral Charles Style, told a news conference.

With the United States conducting naval exercises in the Gulf, the rising tension rattled global markets. Oil prices jumped by $5 overnight to more than $68 a barrel before they settled back to around $64. Gold jumped to a four-week high on safe-haven buying before prices eased.

The crisis coincides with a U.N. Security Council resolution passed at the weekend tightening sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. Iran denies building atomic weapons and calls the sanctions illegal.

"WRONG AND ILLEGAL"

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the detention of the sailors was "wrong and illegal". The Foreign Office said the Iranian ambassador was summoned for a fifth meeting on Wednesday.

British officials could not confirm comments by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, quoted by CNN Turk television as saying Turkish diplomats may be allowed to see the captured Britons.

For the first time since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, a second U.S. aircraft carrier, the John C. Stennis, arrived in the Gulf for previously scheduled naval war games.

Iran played down the U.S. naval exercises. A headline across screens on Iranian state television read: "Iran: 'no concern about Pentagon's war games in the Persian Gulf'."

The European Union backed Britain. Angela Merkel, chancellor of the bloc's president Germany, said the EU extended its "absolute support and solidarity".

UnderSecretary of State Nicholas Burns called Iran's behavior "reprehensible". "We and all the other allies and many other countries that aren't even allied to Britain around the world think this is odious behavior on the part of the Iranian authorities," he told BBC television.

Iran's embassy in London said the British sailors and marines were 0.5 km inside Iranian waters at the time. It had given that data to Britain and was confident Britain and Iran could resolve the issue through cooperation.

Britain says its 15 personnel had searched a merchant ship in Iraqi waters, with a U.N. mandate, when they were captured.

In a similar incident in 2004, Iran freed eight British service members after holding them for three days. But since then, Iran's leadership has become more hostile to the West and tension over Iran's nuclear program has increased.

Source - Reuters [Link]

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Mikha

Junior Member
Iran TV shows seized UK navy crew

Last Updated: Wednesday, 28 March 2007

Iranian state television has broadcast an interview with captured British female sailor Faye Turney and footage of the 14 servicemen seized with her.

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Leading Seaman Turney, 26, said they had been seized in the Gulf because "obviously we trespassed" in Iranian waters - something the UK disputes.

She said her captors had been friendly and the 15 personnel were unharmed.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in a statement she was "very concerned" about the pictures.

'Hospitable'

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.

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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

The circumstances of the filming are unknown.

The footage showed the eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines, who were seized at gunpoint by Iranian Revolutionary Guards last Friday, in their uniforms sitting and eating a meal out of white trays.

There was separate footage of Leading Seaman Turney - wearing a black headscarf - smoking and speaking.

She said: "I was arrested on Friday March 23. Obviously we trespassed into their waters.

"They were very friendly and very hospitable, very thoughtful, good people.

"They explained to us why we had been arrested. There was no aggression, no hurt, no harm. They were very, very compassionate."

'Unacceptable'

The video showed a letter, said to have been written by Leading Seaman Turney to her parents, in which she admitted that the navy personnel had "apparently" crossed into Iranian waters.

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The captured personnel were shown eating in their uniforms

"I wish we hadn't because then I would be home with you right now," the letter said.

Mrs Beckett said she was concerned about "any indication of pressure on or coercion of our personnel" who she said were on a routine operation in accordance with international law.

She added: "I am particularly disappointed that a private letter has been used in a way which can only add to the distress of the families."

Defence Secretary Des Browne said it was "completely unacceptable to parade our people in this way".

'Pressure'

Earlier on Wednesday the UK said it was suspending bilateral contacts with Iran amid the dispute over the personnel.

They were taken after searching a merchant vessel in the northern Gulf.

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Footage was shown of the British personnel being seized

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

Earlier Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was time for the UK to "ratchet up" pressure on Iran.

The Ministry of Defence issued data it said proved the navy 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.

'Ambush'

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

The MoD also released a photograph of a handheld global positioning satellite device in HMS Cornwall's Lynx helicopter as it flew over the searched merchant vessel.

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

The UK government said the Iranians had 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".

Source - BBC News [Link]

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Mikha

Junior Member
Captives Paraded On TV

Updated: 21:23, Wednesday March 28, 2007

Footage of the 15 British sailors and marines being held in Iran has been aired by Iranian TV.

The video shows the group being arrested, eating food in captivity and carries an interview with Leading Seaman Faye Turney.

Turney is seen looking worried, wearing Iranian clothes and smoking.

She admitted the group "trespassed" into Iranian waters.

"They were very friendly and very hospitable and nice people and explained to us why we were being arrested," she said.

Tehran said Turney will be released shortly and will carry a letter to her parents confessing to what happened.

Iran's Foreign Minister has said the UK must accept its sailors were arrested in Iranian waters.

Britain's Foreign Office condemned the screening of the footage and said: "It is completely unacceptable for these pictures to be on television.

"There is no doubt that our personnel were seized in Iraqi waters and were entitled to be there."

The broadcast came after Tony Blair said the time had come to "ratchet up the pressure" on Iran.

Earlier the Ministry of Defence released evidence that the 15 captive sailors and marines were in Iraqi waters when they were snatched.

Those seized on Friday include married mother-of-one Mrs Turney, 26, and 21-year-old Paul Barton.

All 15 British personnel were detained at gun-point after they boarded a dhow carrying suspicious cargo off the coast of Iraq.

The sailors and marines have now been held in an unknown location for five days.

The MoD said the British vessel was 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi territory when it was seized - and revealed the exact co-ordinates of the event to back up its claim.

Vice Admiral Charles Style said the position had been confirmed publicly by the Iraqi foreign ministry.

He added the Iranian government had provided Britain with two different positions for the incident - the first placing it within Iraqi waters.

But a statement from the Iranian embassy to Sky News said the sailors had strayed "0.5km deep into the Iranian waters".

"The sailors illegally entered Iranian waters. Violation of international border and their intrusive act justified their detention," the statement said.

Source - Sky News [Link]

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Mikha

Junior Member
Iran Airs Video Of Detained British Troops

Iran Says Sailors "Trespassed"; U.K. Insists They Were Outside Iranian Waters

LONDON, March 28, 2007

Iran broadcast the first pictures Wednesday of the 15 British sailors and marines it seized last week, including a female captive who wore a white tunic and a black head scarf and said the British boats had "trespassed" in Iranian waters.

Britain immediately protested the airing of the footage, calling it "completely unacceptable for these pictures to be shown on television." Earlier in the day, Britain had announced it was freezing all contacts with Iran apart from negotiations to free the sailors.

The 15 have been caught in the middle of a tense dispute between the two governments about whether the sailors were operating in Iraqi waters when they were captured Friday, as Britain says, or whether they had illegally entered Iranian waters, as Iran says.

In the footage aired by Al-Alam, an Arabic-language, Iranian state-run television station, British sailor Faye Turney contradicts her government's claim that the team had not entered Iranian waters.

"Obviously we trespassed into their waters," Turney, 26, says on the video. "They were very friendly and very hospitable, very thoughtful, nice people. They explained to us why we've been arrested, there was no harm, no aggression," she said.

Britain's Foreign Office said it had "grave concerns" about Turney's state of mind when she spoke on video.

"I am very concerned about these pictures and any indication of pressure on or coercion of our personnel," said Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett. She added that Britain had "comprehensively demonstrated today that our personnel were operating inside Iraqi territorial waters."

British officials declined to comment on whether showing the video footage of the sailors and marines violated the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit countries from putting captured military personnel on display.

Turney, sitting in a room with a floral background, was also shown in uniform eating with sailors and marines and at one point was shown smoking a cigarette with eyes downcast.

The video footage also included a brief scene of what appeared to be the British sailors sitting in an Iranian boat in open waters immediately after their capture.

At one point, a handwritten letter from Turney is shown. In it, Turney writes, "I have written a letter to the Iranian people to apologize for us entering their waters."

Turney was the only person to be shown speaking in the video.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, speaking during an Arab leaders summit meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, had said that Turney, the only female crew member, could be released later on Wednesday or on Thursday.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair called the capture of the 15 Royal Navy crew members "unacceptable, wrong and illegal," and told the House of Commons Wednesday that it was "now time to ratchet up the international and diplomatic pressure" on Tehran.

"In the end, it is likely that Iran will release the sailors and Marines, as it did when a similar incident occurred three years ago," says CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk, "but Iran's defiance in world affairs is having a boomerang effect, causing the world powers to close ranks regarding its inflammatory actions."

Also Wednesday, the British Defense Ministry released GPS coordinates it said proved the 15 were in Iraqi waters when they were arrested, about 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters on the Shatt al-Arab waterway. The ministry said the Iranians had made inconsistent designations of the location where the incident occurred.

In a first act of retribution against Iran, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett suspended bilateral talks with Tehran on all other issues. Visits by officials were stopped, issuing visas to Iranian officials suspended and British support for events such as trade missions put on hold, her office said.

President Bush spoke to British Prime Minister Tony Blair over a secured video conference call about the standoff Wednesday, White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said.

"The president fully backs Tony Blair and our allies in Britain," she said.

Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel Wednesday as the sailor standoff continued and on rumors that Iran had fired a missile at a U.S. ship in the Persian Gulf, where the United States is carrying out its largest sequence of military maneuvers since the launch of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Source - CBS News [Link]

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Mikha

Junior Member
Reuters - Iran TV: Brits admit incursion - 30-03-07

Mar. 30 - Iranian TV is showing pictures of 3 British military personnel, with one apparently admitting that his group entered Iranian waters.

Al-Alam TV network broadcast these pictures with presenter commentary. It's the second time the Iranian network has shown video of the UK sailors and marines.

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Iran says Britain mishandling captives' issue

Sat Mar 31, 2007 5:32PM EDT

By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) - London has mishandled the aftermath of the detention of British naval personnel in the Gulf, Iran's president said on Saturday after Britain expressed concern at Iranian "sabre-rattling".

Iran's ambassador to Moscow said the 15 Britons captured eight days ago could face punishment if found guilty of illegally entering the Islamic Republic's territorial waters. Britain insists the sailors were seized in Iraqi waters.

Suggesting the diplomatic standoff was not near a solution, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad underlined Iranian displeasure that Britain had turned to the Security Council and the European Union for support over the detentions.

"After the arrest of these people, the British government, instead of apologizing and expressing regret, over the action taken, started to claim that we are in their debt and shouted in different international councils," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by state radio.

"But this is not the legal and logical way for this issue," he said in a speech to a rally in Khuzestan, a province on the Iraqi border area where the Britons were seized.

After an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Bremen, northern Germany, Britain's Margaret Beckett said she was worried by the Moscow ambassador's words.

"Obviously, I am concerned. It is not the first person to have made sabre-rattling noises," she told reporters.

"The message I want to send is I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen. What we want is a way out of it."

Beckett said Britain had sent Iran a written reply to its diplomatic note on the detention of the sailors and had so far received no response.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Iran was "waiting for the British government to correct its behavior", the state broadcaster's Web site reported.

He also defended showing some detainees on television -- a move sharply criticized by London -- and said Iran's aim was to reassure their families, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Iran seized the sailors and marines in the northern Gulf on March 23 when they were on a U.N.-backed mission searching for smugglers. Tehran says they strayed into Iranian waters but Britain insists they were well in Iraqi territory.

The crisis, at a time of heightened Middle East tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions, has helped push oil prices to six-month highs over concerns an escalation might cut oil exports from the region.

EXCHANGE OF NOTES

Iran's Moscow ambassador, Gholamreza Ansari, said in an interview on Vesti-24 television on Friday, according to a Reuters translation from the original Farsi: "If there is no guilt they will be freed but the legal process is going on and has to be completed and if they are found guilty they will face the punishment."

It was not clear on what authority he was speaking and IRNA said on Saturday Ansari had denied making the comments. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on March 25 Iran might charge the sailors with illegally entering its waters.

The opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran said at a news conference in London it had information the operation to capture the Britons was planned at the highest levels and pre-meditated.

Iran's Foreign Ministry delivered a letter to Britain's embassy in Tehran on Thursday, the first written communication between the two capitals since the crisis began.

IRNA said the Iranian message asked for "necessary guarantees that violations against Iranian waters would not be repeated". Beckett said Britain had replied and "we are now beginning to discuss".

Iran displayed three of the detained Britons on television on Friday and released a letter from one saying she was being held because of "oppressive" British and U.S. behavior in Iraq.

British forces have been deployed in southern Iraq since joining the U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003. Britain and the United States accuse Iran of allowing sophisticated weapons used to target their forces to be brought into Iraq.

Source - Reuters [Link]
 

Mikha

Junior Member
New pictures of the 15 British crew being held in Iran have been published by an Iranian news agency.

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British Marines Enjoying So-Called Captivity

News numbre: 8601140438 18:26 | 2007-04-03

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- While British Prime Minister Tony Blair still makes wrathful statements about the TV interviews of his country's marines, the latest series of photographs released by FNA display that British troops are enjoying their ideal conditions in Iran.

Today's photographs show that the British troops are having fruit and coffee, speaking to each other, playing chess and on the whole spending their desirable leisure time in Iran instead of serving missions in the cumbersome conditions of the Persian Gulf.

The 15 detainees, including 8 sailors and 7 British marines, were arrested by Iran's boarder guards on 23 of March, 2007.

In interviews broadcast by Iran's state-run TV, 4 of the said troops explicitly acknowledged that they had trespassed on Iran's waters and apologized to the Iranian nation for their intrusion.

Meantime, the data and information extracted from the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the British troops substantiate their illegal entry into Iranian waters.

Despite allegation by some western media that the marines had made the confessions under duress, photographs, specially those taken today, prove that the British troops have acknowledged to their guilt freely and under an open atmosphere.

In the same interviews, the British marines said that they understand Iranian nation's anger at the action, and advised London to give up unfounded claims and extend formal apology to Iran instead.

In clear reference to the improper statements of the British Prime Minister, Iranian First Vice-President Parviz Dawoodi Tuesday morning stressed that the issue of the marines would not be solved in the near future if Britain continues making hue and cry.

Source - Fars News Agency [Link]
 

Mikha

Junior Member
Iran frees British sailors after 13-day crisis

Summary: Iran released 15 British sailors on Wednesday as a "gift" to the people of Britain in a dramatic end to a two-week ordeal that had triggered a new diplomatic crisis between Tehran and the West.

Date: 4 April 2007

Shotlist: Shots of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meets with British sailors, press members, details 00:00-01:11

Source - IHLAS News [Link]

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Mikha

Junior Member
BBC - Full Navy news conference - 06-04-07

Full news conference given by the British personnel seized by Iran on their experience.

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Royal Navy captives: Key quotes

Friday, 6 April 2007

Some of the 15 Royal Navy crew members held by Iran after being captured in the Gulf have spoken of their treatment and emotions.

Royal Marine Captain Chris Air, Lieutenant Felix Carman, Royal Navy Operator Maintainer Arthur Batchelor, Royal Marine Joe Tindell, Operator Maintainer Simon Massey, Leading Seaman Christopher Coe and Royal Marine Adam Sperry all spoke at a media conference at the Royal Marines Base at Chivenor, north Devon.

ON THEIR CAPTURE
On Friday 23 March I, along with 14 of my colleagues, were part of a routine boarding patrol. We deployed from HMS Cornwall in two Rigid Inflatable Boats and patrolled into an area south of the Shatt Al Arab waterway.

This was meant to be a routine boarding operation and followed approximately 66 similar such boardings over the previous four weeks.

We approached an unidentified merchant vessel that our supporting helicopter had identified as worth investigation...

A short while later two speed boats were spotted approaching rapidly about 400 metres away. I ordered everyone to make their weapons ready and ordered the boarding party to return to the boats.

By the time all were back on board, two Iranian boats had come alongside. One officer spoke good English and I explained that we were conducting a routine operation, as allowed under a United Nations mandate.

But when we tried to leave, they prevented us by blocking us in. By now it was becoming increasingly clear that they had arrived with a planned intent.

Some of the Iranian sailors were becoming deliberately aggressive and unstable.

They rammed our boats and trained their heavy machineguns, RPG (rocket-propelled grenades) and weapons on us. Another six boats were closing in on us.

We realised that our efforts to reason with these people were not making any headway. Nor were we able to calm some of the individuals down.

It was at this point that we realised that had we resisted, there would have been a major fight - one that we could not have won and with consequences that would have major strategic impacts.

We made a conscious decision not to engage the Iranians and do as they asked.
Lt Carman

ON THEIR TREATMENT
On arrival at a small Iranian naval base we were blindfolded, stripped of all our kit and led to a room where I declared myself as the officer in charge and was introduced to their local commander.

Two hours later, we were moved to a second location and throughout the night were subjected to random interrogation.

The questions were aggressive and the handling rough, but it was no worse than that.

The following morning, we were flown to Tehran and transported to a prison - where the atmosphere changed completely.

We were blindfolded, our hands were bound, we were forced up against the wall. Throughout our ordeal we faced constant psychological pressure.

Later, we were stripped and dressed in pyjamas. The next few nights were spent in stone cells approximately 8ft by 6ft, sleeping on piles of blankets.

All of us were kept in isolation. We were interrogated most nights and presented with two options.

If we admitted we had strayed, we would be back on a plane to the UK pretty soon. If we didn't, we faced up to seven years in prison.

We all, at one time or another, made a conscious decision to make a controlled release of non-operational information.
Lt Carman

We thought we were going to the British embassy but we got taken to a detention centre, all 15 of us.

We had a blindfold and plastic cuffs, hands behind our backs, heads against the wall. Basically there were weapons cocking. Someone, I'm not sure who, someone said, I quote, 'lads, lads I think we're going to get executed'.

After that comment, someone was sick and as far as I was concerned he had just had his throat cut.

From there we were rushed to a room, quick photo and then stuffed into a cell and didn't see or speak to anyone for six days.
Royal Marine Joe Tindell

When we arrived at the prison we were put up against the wall, blindfolded and our hands were bound.

One of the marines understandably thought we were facing a firing squad, as we could hear weapons being cocked behind us.

So he dropped to the floor and was shouting, 'lads we're gonna get executed'.

However, I managed to unbind my hands and uncover my eyes and look back and there was no firing squad there, they were just making gestures.

I then managed to tell my team to relax, that we weren't gonna get shot. That's when I got jumped as well, but no further violence.
Lt Carman

ON FAYE TURNEY
Throughout our ordeal we've tried to remain very much a team. No one individual should be singled out.

But we're now very aware of the special treatment singled out to Faye Turney.

Faye is a young mother and a wife. She volunteered to join the Royal Navy and is very proud to continue to serve.

She's a highly professional operator and we're incredibly proud to have her as a member of our team.

The fact she's a woman has been used as a propaganda tool by Iran. This is deeply regrettable.
Lt Carman

She was separated from us as soon as we arrived in Teheran in the detention centre, and isolated in a cell well away from any of us.

She was told shortly afterwards that we'd all been returned home, and was under the impression for about four days that she was the only one there.

So clearly, she was subjected to quite a lot of stress that we, fortunately, didn't know about, and we weren't subjected to ourselves.

She coped admirably and retained a lot of dignity.
Capt Air

The day it happened, Faye literally put her arms around me and said 'I am going to stay with you until this is complete, I'm looking after you', and since then she did.
Operator Maintainer Batchelor

ON THE PRESSURES
The pressures that we were subjected to were quite diverse in the way it was carried out. It was mainly psychological and emotional.

To start with the isolation was a major part of this and a complete suffocation in terms of information from the outside world.

None of the guards spoke English, we were blindfolded at all times and kept in isolation from each other.

Also when we first went to prison we were put up against the wall, hands bound, blindfolded and people were cocking weapons in the background which, as you can imagine, was an extremely nerve-wracking occasion.
Lt Carman

ON THEIR LOCATION
Irrespective of what has been said in the past, when we were detained by the IRG, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, we were inside internationally-recognised Iraqi territorial waters.

And I can clearly state we were 1.7 nautical miles from Iranian waters.
Lt Carman

ON THEIR IRANIAN MEDIA APPEARANCES
Obviously we're not pleased about it, and as far as I'm concerned the whole thing was a complete media stunt, and I've got nothing else to say really. I'm not their biggest fan, put it that way.
Royal Marine Tindell

It was very much a set-up, very much a stunt for Iranian propaganda...At no time did we say we apologise for intruding into Iranian waters.

At all times we stuck to our guns and said we were conducting our operations legally. The underhand tactics that were used was an insult to our intelligence really.
Lt Carmen

ON NOT FIGHTING BACK

Let me be absolutely clear, from the outset it was very apparent that fighting back was simply not an option. Had we chosen to do so then many of us would not be standing here today. Of that I have no doubts.

The Iranian Navy did not turn up lightly armed; they came with intent, heavy weapons, and very quickly surrounded us.

We were equipped, armed and had rules of engagement for boarding operations within Iraqi water.

We were not prepared to fight a heavily armed force who it is our impression came out deliberately into Iraqi waters to take us prisoner. Reasoning with the Iranians was our only option. We tried.

We did our utmost to de-escalate the situation, but our words fell on deaf ears. They had come with a clear purpose and were never going to leave without us.

The Iranians are not our enemies. We are not at war with them.

Our rules of engagement at that time stated that we could only use lethal force if we felt that we were in imminent danger of a loss of life.

By the time the true intent of the Iranians had become apparent - and we could have legitimately fought back - it was too late for action.
Capt Air

ON THEIR COOPERATION WITH THE IRANIANS

We did not cooperate too much. I would say the allegation is wholly incorrect.

We were very careful about what we said, as we realised that there was a severe risk of a full-scale international situation.

Our captors set out to psychologically confuse us by keeping us alone, feeding us very little and stopping us from communicating.

We were aware that we were part of a propaganda war and I feel proud of the way that every single one of us behaved.

We never believed what they said. We had to use our common sense as our survival was at stake.

We were aware that we were well within Iraqi waters. We were aware that this has been disputed but we are absolutely positive that we carried this whole process out in the correct manner.

We knew that we were doing the right thing.
Capt Air

ON THEIR RELEASE
Yesterday we were reunited with our families after a 14-day ordeal that none of us will ever forget.

On arrival at London Heathrow, we were given the news that four UK servicemen and a civilian interpreter had been killed in Iraq.

We would like to pass on our thoughts and condolences to the families of those who died serving their country.

We would also like to, as a group, thank the staff of the British Embassy in Tehran and the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence for all their work in securing our release.

We understand that a great deal of effort has been going on behind the scenes to enable us to return to the UK, and for that we are very grateful.
Capt Air

Source - BBC News [Link]
 
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