Iran Seizes British Crew From Sail Bahrain Yacht

[FSTargetDrone]

BBC:

UK boat crew held by Iranian navy

Five Britons have been detained by the Iranian navy while sailing a yacht from Bahrain to Dubai, the Foreign Office (FCO) has said.

The sailors were crewing a boat belonging to Sail Bahrain when they were stopped on 25 November.

In a statement, the FCO said it was possible the crew, who are still in Iran, may have "strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters".

The five are understood to be safe and well and their families have been told.

It is not known where the sailors are being held nor which club they had come from, but the FCO did confirm they were on their way to take part in a Dubai-Muscat race. They are believed to have been sailing a yacht called the Kingdom of Bahrain.

FCO officials have had contact with Iran's ministry of foreign affairs and the Iranian embassy in the UK, while Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he hoped the issue would be resolved "soon".

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall said the FCO had wanted to keep the matter "private" in order to increase the chance of a resolution.

But after five days the details emerged and they had no option but to confirm the story, she added.

It is thought the Eid holiday could have delayed proceedings in Iran, said the BBC's Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne.

He added that with Iran feeling beleaguered over Western concerns about both its recent elections and its nuclear programme, the incident "could hardly [have come at] a worst moment".

Mr Miliband added: "FCO officials immediately contacted the Iranian authorities in London and in Tehran on the evening of 25 November, both to seek clarification and to try and resolve the matter swiftly.

"Our ambassador in Tehran has raised the issue with the Iranian foreign ministry and we have discussed the matter with the Iranian embassy in London," he said.

Stand-off

Sail Bahrain was recently launched by yachting company Team Pindar.

The 360-nautical mile Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race began on 26 November and ended two days later in the Omani capital's Bandar Al-Rawdah marina.

In March 2007 there was a prolonged stand-off between the UK and Iran after a 15-strong Royal Navy crew was detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

The Iranians accused the crew of straying into its waters, but the British said they were in Iraqi territory.

They were released nearly two weeks later.

In 2004, eight British servicemen were held in Iran after being seized in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where they were training the Iraqi river patrol service.

Published: 2009/11/30 20:48:57 GMT

So what do we think? Iran will accuse them of spying, hold them for a few weeks to embarrass the British, then release them?

[Sea Skimmer]

Iran controls many of the islands in the middle of the Persian Gulf by right of having invaded the fuck out of them with the world’s first amphibious hovercraft assault in the 1970s, so it is not unlikely that the boat really did stray into Iranian waters. Many of those islands are almost right on top of the line you’d sail to get from Bahrain directly to Dubai. Since Iran now uses several of those islands as free trade zones (they used to be pure military bases) it’s unlikely they’ll care to level spying charges. But maybe.

[Tribun]

I guess the only reason they do this is to show the whole world what assholes they are. Really, what benefit is there? Apart from a short gain of "oh we are so strong" these stunts are only gonna hurt them in the end.

[Sea Skimmer]

I guess the only reason they do this is to show the whole world what assholes they are. Really, what benefit is there? Apart from a short gain of "oh we are so strong" these stunts are only gonna hurt them in the end.

Hun? I’m sorry but as much as I do not like Iran, enforcing ones territorial waters and boarder integrity is not being an asshole. Its you know, enforcing the law. Odds are like so many small ships and small boats, and hell even very large ones the boats crew did not maintain a proper watch and drifted off course or else failed to plot a proper course in the first place. Europe certainly doesn’t blink at arresting whole shiploads of immigrants for trespassing in territory waters either. Two internationally agreed shipping channels lead in and out of the Persian Gulf and pass through Iranian controlled waters, anything that strays out of them is fair game for boarding and arrest of the crew.

[Tribun]

Defending territoral waters is one thing.

But to just to wait for every opportunity just to flex their muscles -especially in such tight waters as the Strait of Hormuz- is something else.

[Teebs]

I guess the only reason they do this is to show the whole world what assholes they are. Really, what benefit is there? Apart from a short gain of "oh we are so strong" these stunts are only gonna hurt them in the end.

I think it's more likely to be for domestic propaganda than to impress the outside world.

[Artemas]

Especially since it seems to be British crews that get nabbed. If it were just a routine boarding, then shouldn't there be a lot more French, Arab, and other nationals getting captured?

Maybe the British are just especially bad at navigation?

Yeah, right.

[Psychic_Sandwich]

Hun? I’m sorry but as much as I do not like Iran, enforcing ones territorial waters and boarder integrity is not being an asshole. Its you know, enforcing the law. Odds are like so many small ships and small boats, and hell even very large ones the boats crew did not maintain a proper watch and drifted off course or else failed to plot a proper course in the first place. Europe certainly doesn’t blink at arresting whole shiploads of immigrants for trespassing in territory waters either. Two internationally agreed shipping channels lead in and out of the Persian Gulf and pass through Iranian controlled waters, anything that strays out of them is fair game for boarding and arrest of the crew.

Maybe the British are just especially bad at navigation?

Yeah, right.

According to the BBC here, there was no wind at the time. Being a sail boat, they were just drifting, and had organised a tow to come and retrieve them. In that situation, it's not like they could chose where to go, so navigation was irrelevant.

[Artemas]

Oh, well that changes things.

[Sea Skimmer]

Especially since it seems to be British crews that get nabbed. If it were just a routine boarding, then shouldn't there be a lot more French, Arab, and other nationals getting captured?

Maybe they are but it just doesn’t make international news because no one really gives a fuck? In fact Iran does stop and search small boats all the time, and this is a right any naval force has. Seriously, not everything that happens on earth gets reported, the western media is VERY selective on what it calls attention too. You think the media reports it every time Iran boards a local dhow?

According to the BBC here, there was no wind at the time. Being a sail boat, they were just drifting, and had organised a tow to come and retrieve them. In that situation, it's not like they could chose where to go, so navigation was irrelevant.

Navigation is never irrelevant; it is the duty of any craft to keep track of its own position and that of other shipping. If they could not move then they could have dropped anchor, the Persian Gulf is on average less then 200 feet deep, and sailboats normally have a sea anchor as well which will greatly reduce drifting even if you can’t reach the bottom. In no wind conditions it should bring a craft nearly to a standstill as the whole point of the sea anchor is to actually prevent you from being blown in the wrong direction by unfavorable wind. If they did not have such things available then that’s the fault of the boats captain. Its not like the Persian Gulf hasn’t been a fucking war zone since 1980.

[Artemas]

The article implied that it was a racing yacht; it is possible that it was stripped of anything that might slow it down -anchor, outboard motor, etc.

[Sea Skimmer]

Excuses for negligence are still just excuses. I know if I was fucking going to sail in the Persian Gulf Death Zone with a giant target painted on me by simple fact of being western I’d damn well be prepared and keep a sharp lookout if only from random bandits (small scale piracy is big in the Gulf). They could have offloaded any unnecessary gear before the race actually started. Additionally the Volve 60 yatch has an integral engine. Apparently this engine or screw broke down.

But anyway, the Iranian Evil Empire of Evil has released the crew, confirmed what I was saying all along. They trespassed and got called on it, nothing more too it. Iran has bigger fish to fry.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8389946.stm