Who are the bad guys, again…

The Iranians continue to show themselves as dangerous, unreliable and untrustworthy. Anyone who has studied the international law understands the perpetual contention around territorial waters and borders. The Iranians make all sorts of claims, which are not recognized internationally, about the extend and shape of their territorial waters.

The United States and other nations routinely conduct FON events (freedom of navigation) to underscore the fact that these boundaries are unrecognized claims. This is not the case for the captured British sailors. To me the case is fairly clear that the British VBSS (vessel board search and seizure) team was tricked. The British MOD indicates that the reported position of the target vessel was well within Iraqi territorial waters and the arrival of Iranian naval assets was a surprise (indicating a planned event) to the UK forces.

The sailors are now in Tehran, separated to prevent any possible rescue. The Iranians will not harm them, unless they would like some serious hurt landing on their heads from US and UK forces. They are simply putting their thumb in the eye of the West reminding us that our precious rules and laws make us beholden to their outrageous behavior.

It’s enough to make me want to simply raise the black flag…

Knock, knock...

The Iranians really don't like the British. They have had terrible relations with them since the start of the 20th century. In a great summary of UK / Iranian relations, All The Shah's Men provides a superior account of why the Iranians and the Brits are at such loggerheads.

Compounding this issue is the idea of borders and ownership of the Arabian / Persian Gulf and the Shaat-al-Arab. There is no doubt that the UK soldiers most likely crossed over the "line" in the SAA and were grabbed by Iranian naval units. The actual sovereignty of this stretch of muddy water has been in dispute for decades. The Iranians have even placed a flag and heavy machine gun on a sunken crane near the Iraqi oil terminal KAAOT in the Shaat-al-Arab. They use this as a platform to exert their national boundaries and threaten Iraqi and coalition naval assets.

Not a nice group. Routinely they will run out from the shore in their Boghammer attack boats and "dare" forces to engage.

The fifteen British sailors and marines do not deserve to be interrogated. They should be released in accordance with international agreements.

If not, the Brits should act.