Seized sailors 'taken to Tehran'
Royal Navy Type 22 frigate HMS Cornwall
The 15 Royal Navy personnel seized at gunpoint in the Gulf by Iranian forces have been transferred to Tehran, Iranian news agency Fars has reported.
The UK says the eight sailors and seven marines had been carrying out routine duties in Iraqi waters and has called for their immediate release.
But Tehran said it had made a "firm protest" about an "illegal entry" into Iranian waters by the navy personnel.
The 15 would be asked to explain their actions, the news agency said.
Diplomats have held talks in Tehran and London since Friday's incident.
The personnel, who are thought to be unharmed, were seized after boarding a boat in the Gulf.
HMS CORNWALL FACTS
Multi-national force flagship in the northern Gulf
Type 22 frigate
Crew: 250 (Max 301)
Length: 148.1m / 485.9ft
Speed: 30 knots
Source: Royal Navy
They were from HMS Cornwall, based in Plymouth - the flagship of the coalition-Iraqi force which patrols Iraqi territorial waters in the northern Gulf to combat smuggling.
Its commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, said they had been inspecting an Iraqi boat before clearing its skipper to continue with his business.
When they returned to their two small boats, they were "promptly arrested".
The helicopter then saw the British boats being moved along the Shatt al-Arab waterway to Iranian bases, Cmdr Lambert said.
There had been no evidence of fighting, he added.
Ibrahim Rahimpour, Iran's director general for Western European affairs, said he had met the UK's charge d'affaires, Kate Smith, in Tehran.
The personnel would have been in boats similar to those pictured
He said in a statement that he had delivered a "firm protest from Iran against the illegal entry of British sailors into Iranian territorial waters".
The Ministry of Defence has been in contact with relatives of the group.
UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett - who had a "brisk and polite" meeting with Iran's ambassador to London on Friday - demanded the immediate and safe return of the captured personnel.
It is a long holiday period in Iran so there has been little public comment so far.
The US military said it had been monitoring Iran's Revolutionary Guards - an elite fighting force appointed by the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - "for years now" in Iraqi territorial waters.
Tehran question
BBC world affairs correspondent, Ian Pannell, who was earlier on board HMS Cornwall, said the mood on the ship was "quiet and determined" and that "the aspiration here is that this will be over sooner rather than later".
Speaking on Saturday, he said crew members now wanted to know who was behind the incident.
"They no longer feel this is being controlled by local Iranian naval officials, it is probably being run out of Tehran," he said.
And the BBC's Bridget Kendall said the big question was whether the capture was part of a bigger political game, ahead of a UN Security Council vote in New York over further sanctions against Iran's nuclear programme.
But Sadegh Ziba Kalam, professor of politics at Tehran University, dismissed the idea that the seizure was a political move ahead of the vote.
"Everyone knows that would not change anything," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The seizure also follows claims that much of the violence against UK forces in Basra is being engineered by Iranian elements, which Tehran denies.
In 2004, Iran detained eight British servicemen for three days after they allegedly strayed over the maritime border.
The men were paraded blindfolded and made to apologise on Iranian TV before their release was agreed.
news.bbc.co.uk
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THE SUN SAYS
ALL Britain is praying for the 15 Royal Navy men seized by Iran.
Their capture reminds us of the risks Britain’s brave military take on our behalf.
They showed remarkable discipline in refusing to open fire despite the provocation from armed thugs.
But Tony Blair must leave the Iranians in no doubt.
And it is Mr Blair who must take personal charge: We don’t suppose the Iranian ambassador was exactly quaking in his boots at being told off by Margaret Beckett.
Taking Our Boys prisoner is an outrage that cannot be tolerated.
Tehran should remember this:
The British military is not only highly disciplined.
It is superbly trained to act when necessary with lethal force.
Britain will be not be humiliated by a crackpot’s regime.
thesun.co.uk
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