Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Iran warns tough actions against British sailors

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Flashback: HMS Cornwall crew members, including Faye Turney, centre, were paraded on Iranian TV during their 2007 hostage ordeal. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said the two incidents are not linked

Hostages: Oliver Young (right) and Luke Porter pictured together earlier this year

Sam Usher, Olly Smith, Luke Porter and Oliver Young - four of the Britons seized as they sailed in the Gulf

Held: Dave Bloomer, a DJ for Radio Bahrain, has been named as a captive



September 2008 photo released by Team Pindar of the race yacht Kingdom of Bahrain sailing at an unknown location. Britain's Foreign Office says that the yacht, owned by Sail Bahrain and carrying five U.K. nationals has been stopped by Iranian naval vessels, and they are now in Iran. Government officials said Monday November 30 2009 that the yacht may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters when it was stopped last Wednesday en route from Bahrain to Dubai to take part in a race.Racing yacht: The Kingdom Of Bahrain (pictured) may have 'inadvertently strayed' into Iranian territorial waters


November 2008 photo released by Team Pindar of the race yacht Kingdom of Bahrain off the coast of France. Britain's Foreign Office says that the yacht, owned by Sail Bahrain and carrying five U.K. nationals has been stopped by Iranian naval vessels, and they are now in Iran. Government officials said Monday that the yacht may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters when it was stopped last Wednesday en route from Bahrain to Dubai to take part in a race.


In this undated photo released by the Friendshiparabia.com website via APTN, "Kingdom of Bahrain" crew member David Bloomer is seen at an unknown location in Jordan. Iran is holding five British sailors, including David Bloomer, after stopping their racing yacht in the Persian Gulf, the British government said Monday,


Iran warned on Tuesday that it will take strong action against five British sailors detained by the Iranian navy after their racing yacht was stopped last week in the Persian Gulf if it is proven they had "bad intentions."

The detention could heighten tensions between Iran and major world powers, including Britain, that are demanding a halt to Tehran's controversial nuclear program. It could also flare up the longtime rivalry between Iran and Bahrain, since the yacht was the pride of a high-profile racing program sponsored by the Arab Gulf nation's king.

The British government said Monday that Iran is holding the five British crewmembers after their yacht, owned by Sail Bahrain, was stopped last Wednesday after straying inadvertently into Iranian waters while en route to Dubai to join the Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Britain has been in touch about the case with Iranian counterparts and hoped the matter would be resolved soon. Speaking Tuesday to BBC, Miliband described the issue as a "purely consular matter."

"There's certainly no confrontation or argument," Miliband said. "As far as we are aware, these people are being well treated, which is right and what we would expect from a country like Iran."

But the head of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's said Iran will prosecute the Britons if they intended to "violate the national security" of Iran.

"Naturally if bad intentions on the part of these individuals are proven, there will be a serious and strong attitude toward them," Esfandiar Rahim Mashai said, according to the Fars news agency. "The decision will be up to the judiciary, which is independent from the administration."

The five were detained by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, Fars reported. The Guard, which runs its own naval forces, has the responsibility of protecting Iran's Persian Gulf waters. The Guard's navy chief, Gen. Ali Reza Tangsiri, said that if the five were stopped in the Gulf it would be by the Guard — though he did not confirm the detention.

Iran has taken a tough line with previous cases of Westerners entering its borders. It detained three young Americans who strayed across the border from northern Iraq in July. Despite U.S. insistence that they were innocent hikers who accidentally entered Iran, Tehran has accused them of espionage — a sign that they could be put on trial.

Miliband insisted that the five Britons were civilians who "were going about their sport."

"It seems they may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters. We look forward to the Iranian government dealing with this promptly," he said.

Sail Bahrain's Web site identified the yacht as the "Kingdom of Bahrain" and said it had been due to join the 360-mile (580-kilometer) Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race, which was to begin Nov. 26. The event was to be the boat's first offshore race, the Web site said, adding that the vessel had been fitted with a satellite tracker.

British media identified the five as Oliver Smith, Sam Usher, Luke Porter, Oliver Young, and David Bloomer.

The detention of the British would not be the first of foreign nationals by Tehran.

Fifteen British military personnel were detained in the Gulf by Iran under disputed circumstances in March 2007. Iran charged them with trespassing in its waters, and the Iranian government televised apologies by some of the captured crew.

All were eventually freed without an apology from Britain, which steadfastly insisted the crew members were taken in Iraqi waters, where they were authorized to be.


The crew were named as Sam Usher, Olly Smith, Luke Porter and Oliver Young - and David Bloomer, who works as a radio presenter in Bahrain.

The Government has known about the incident, which was made public yesterday, since last Wednesday – but details were kept private so that negotiations could take place.

It appears that the high-tech yacht was swept towards Iran by strong winds after its propeller was damaged.

Last night 21-year-old Mr Porter's mother Beverley said her husband Charles had spoken to their son on his mobile phone.

She said the sailors had strayed into Iranian waters by only 500 yards, but were now being held somewhere off Iran.
Mrs Porter, who lives in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, said: 'They didn't know that they had strayed over this imaginary line.

'Apparently they are fine and being well-looked after but are most of all frustrated. They have been allowed from time to time to use their mobile phones.

'They don't know when they're going to be released because of the religious festival that is going on over there.'

Her 48-year-old husband added: 'From what we understand, there was an oil field on their charts - which is a restricted area - so they chose to go one side of it.

'In doing so they strayed too close to a small island called Sirri. I assume that is when they were picked up. They're miffed that they are being cooped up and a race was going on.'

Mr Porter added: 'Luke is a very resilient chap. I'm sure he'll deal with things very well but obviously we are very worried about him.'

He said the four sailors had done thousands of miles together over the last three years.

Mr Bloomer had been due to report on the sailors' progress in the 360-mile Dubai-Muscat race.

The Kingdom of Bahrain is a Volvo 60 - the Formula One car of racing yachts.

It is operated by Team Pindar, an international racing team owned by British multi-millionaire Andrew Pindar, who received an OBE from Prince Charles in June for his services to business. It is one of only 19 such yachts in the world.

Diplomats say they have been in 'indirect contact' with the hostages and that they are confident they are being well treated.

Privately the officials are furious that the news broke. They had hoped to keep the incident secret in order to avoid a new diplomatic incident with Iran.

The worst case scenario would see the sailors charged with espionage, handing the regime in Tehran another international propaganda coup. Iran's foreign ministry is expected to make a statement on the sailors today.

'The Iranians know that they are not British naval personnel,' said one diplomat. 'We've explained that to them very clearly. Whether they chose to hear is another matter.'
The fear is that the hostages have been taken by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard - the powerful hardline group behind Iran's nuclear weapons programme - which held the Navy personnel two years ago.

Senior government officials admitted negotiations with the Iranians were proving difficult since the country has been celebrating the annual Muslim festival of Eid.

Ultimately their fate of the hostages is in the hands of the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei. Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: 'I hope this issue will soon be resolved. We will remain in close touch with the Iranian authorities, as well as the families.'

The kidnap comes at a time of growing tensions with Iran over its nuclear weapons programme.

Earlier this year President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proclaimed that Britain was a worse enemy of Iran than the United States.

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