Iran 'seizes' 15 British sailors

March 23, 2007

Dear friends, As the following news story explains, an international incident has occurred in the Persian Gulf involving Iran and UK. The transit strain is well known for Iran at this time, according to the 24° Cancer rising chart discussed earlier. The transit strain is also clear in the 16° Virgo rising UK chart (attached). Best wishes, Thor Iran 'seizes' 15 British sailors POSTED: 9:53 a.m. EDT, March 23, 2007 Story Highlights• 15 British marines on patrol in the Persian Gulf "seized" by Iranian navy• Personnel were carrying out "routine" boarding of a vessel when apprehended• UK government demands immediate and safe return of the marines Adjust font size: LONDON, England (CNN) -- An Iranian naval patrol seized 15 British sailors who had boarded a vessel suspected of smuggling cars of the coast of Iraq, military officials said. The Royal Marines and ordinary naval officers were believed to have been apprehended by up to six ships from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy who claimed they had entered Iranian waters. British naval officials said the sailors, using small boarding craft, had completed an inspection of a merchant vessel in

Iraqi waters when the Iranians arrived. Nick Lambert, commander of the HMS Cornwall -- the frigate from which the British patrol had been deployed -- said a Royal Navy backup helicopter witnessed the incident. The British defense ministry said that it was pursuing the incident "at the highest level" and Tehran's ambassador to London had been summoned to the Foreign Office. There was no immediate comment from Iranian officials. Lambert said the British sailors had been on a "normal, routine boarding" of a vessel that had aroused suspicions as it navigated the Shatt al-Arab waterway that marks the border between Iraq and Iran on the shores of the Persian Gulf. British military patrols have been given authority to board vessels in Iraqi waters under United Nations mandate and with the permission of the government in Baghdad. He said the captain of the merchant vessel had been cleared to proceed and the

two British inflatable patrol boats were readying for departure when they were surrounded by the Iranian navy and taken into Iranian waters. A U.S. military official who monitors the region told CNN that the seizure was made after a dispute over whether the British patrol was in Iraqi, international, or Iranian territorial waters. An Iraqi fisherman told Reuters the incident took place in the Shatt al-Arab waterway that marks the southern stretch of Iraq's border with Iran. His account could not be immediately confirmed. The British defense ministry said: "We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level and on the instructions of the Foreign Secretary, the Iranian ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office. "The British government is demanding the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment." CNN's Aneesh Raman in Tehran said there had been no mention of

the incident on Iranian TV and calls to officials had not been answered. The U.S. military official said the British Royal Marines are believed to be unharmed. It was not immediately clear where in Iran they were taken. The U.S Navy in the Gulf said none of its military personnel was involved. In 2004 eight British sailors and Marines were seized -- and later released -- by Iran after they crossed into Iranian territorial waters aboard three patrol boats by mistake. (Full story).

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