On Friday, March 23, eight sailors from the Royal Navy, including Leading Seaman Faye Turney who has a three-year-old daughter in Plymouth, and seven Royal Marines, all from HMS Cornwall, a Type 22 frigate, were seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Gulf. To its surprise, the United Kingdom found itself in a hostage crisis at a time of escalating tensions between the international community and Iran.
As far as the Royal Navy was concerned the details were straightforward. The incident happened midmorning when a boarding party left HMS Cornwall, the flagship of the multinational task force in the Northern Gulf, in two small inflatable boats. Their task was a routine search of a cargo ship suspected of smuggling. When the inspection was completed the boarding party, armed only with side arms, was surrounded by six larger Iranian vessels with mounted heavy machine guns. They were taken at gunpoint into Iranian waters.
Tehran justified this action by claiming the British had strayed into Iranian territorial waters “illegally”. The Royal Navy was adamant the boarding party was in Iraq’s territorial waters, where the ship to be searched was also and remained for many days. Weather conditions were excellent and the boarding party had a global positioning satellite device, as did HMS Cornwall’s Lynx helicopter flying above. The boarding party was operating under an appropriate Security Council Resolution (1723) and had authorization to board vessels in Iraqi water. HMS Cornwall also guards the Iraqi oil platforms which are critical to Iraq’s economy.
There has been criticism in Britain that HMS Cornwall did not offer some resistance. Using her radar and helicopter she would have been aware of the approaching Iranian vessels. US commanders have also suggested the Royal Navy could have done more to defend her boarding party. I take the view that opening fire on the Iranians at that stage would have been an error of judgment, which could have led to a loss of life on both sides — and an infinitely greater crisis and possible conflict with Iran.
On June 21, 2004 there had been another incident involving the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Shatt Al-Arab waterway, which drew attention to the tetchy state of British-Iranian relations. On that occasion two Boston Whalers and a combat support boat containing two Royal Navy sailors and six Royal Marines were seized. The waterway is only a mile wide in places, the mud banks move, and there is some legal discussion as to what the present international situation really is. They were paraded for Iranian TV blindfolded and released on June 24. Thanks to the diplomatic efforts on both sides all ended well.
The handling by the British government of the present incident has been admirable so far. One senses the Foreign Office professionals are in charge and not young, coffee-drinking, political advisers on sofas in No. 10 Downing Street. The government has been calm and firm and, while anxious for a quick result, has been prepared to play it long. On March 28 Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons it was time to “ratchet up” the diplomatic and international pressure on Iran. He said Tehran had to understand its “total isolation” over the matter.
The United Kingdom’s new ambassador in Tehran, Geoffrey Adams, is just the right man for such an important and tricky assignment. He was the British consul general in Jerusalem between 2001-03. The authorities in Tehran have, so far, refused to allow him to meet the British sailors and Marines — which is totally wrong. They have been paraded on local TV having been taken to the capital. It is not known where they are being held, perhaps because it is feared the SAS might be told to go and get them out.
I suspect the British hostages were taken, in a carefully planned operation, so they might be exchanged for the five Iranians seized by US forces in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil in January. Such a suggestion has been firmly denied in Tehran. The five are being interrogated at an American prison camp in Iraq and are alleged to be members of the Al-Quds unit of the Revolutionary Guards. This unit is responsible for promoting the Iranian revolution abroad.
John Bolton, the former and gung-ho US ambassador to the UN, has suggested the capture of the British hostages was related to the new Security Council’s sanctions against Iran. But it is possible the hostages were taken by an overzealous local commander. In broad terms the Revolutionary Guards have been gaining power and influence in Iran. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad served with them during the Iran-Iraq War.
