- TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Iran
seized three British naval boats Monday, which it said had entered its
waters near the Iraqi border, and arrested eight British crew.
-
- Britain reported it had "lost contact" with
military personnel in the narrow Shatt al-Arab waterway between Iran and
Iraq and later said they were being held by Iran.
-
- "We can confirm that eight Royal Navy personnel
from the Royal Navy training team based in southern Iraq have been detained
by the Iranian authorities while delivering a boat from Umm Qsar to Basra,"
Britain's Ministry of Defense said.
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- A Defense Ministry spokesman said Britons were in the
area helping to train Iraqi police.
-
- While Tehran was deeply opposed to the U.S.-led war and
occupation of Iraq, there has been little direct conflict up to now between
the Shi'ite Muslim state and foreign forces along its western border.
-
- The incident is likely to place further strain on Tehran's
ties with London, which last week joined other European nations in condemning
Iran for being less than fully cooperative with inspectors from the U.N.'s
nuclear watchdog.
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- "This morning three British vessels with eight crew
entered the Islamic Republic of Iran's waters and Iran's naval forces,
acting on their legal duty, confiscated the vessels and arrested the crew,"
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a statement.
-
- "The crew are under investigation in order to clarify
the issue," he added.
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- OIL MARKET JITTERS
-
- Iran's state television said maps and weapons carried
on the British vessels were confiscated. A British Defense Ministry statement
said the boats were carrying only the sailors' personal weapons.
-
- Tehran gave no indication of when or whether the British
ships and crew might be released.
-
- The incident involving OPEC's second largest producer
added to jitters on world oil markets, already unnerved by Islamic militant
attacks on foreigners in Saudi Arabia and pipeline attacks in Iraq. Prices
of gold, seen as a safe haven in times of instability, rose slightly on
the news.
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- A British diplomat in Tehran said the British government
was in close contact with Iranian authorities in Tehran and London.
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- Revolutionary Guards spokesman Massoud Jazaeri told Reuters
Iran was determined to defend its territorial integrity.
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- "Anyone from any nationality entering our waters
will face the same response," Jazaeri said.
-
- Iran's Revolutionary Guards, a branch of the armed forces
charged with defending Iran's Islamic revolution, earlier this month seized
some eight fishing vessels from the United Arab Emirates in a tit-for-tat
measure after the Emirates took an Iranian boat that had strayed into its
waters.
-
- - Additional reporting by Parinoosh Arami in Tehran and
Kate Kelland and Peter Graff in London
-
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