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Deleted member 675
Guest
Ditto - next time they should be backed up by Sea Skua missiles.
So they try to get at its allies operating in the area - rather cowardly if you ask me.
Ditto - next time they should be backed up by Sea Skua missiles.
So they try to get at its allies operating in the area - rather cowardly if you ask me.
BLUEJACKET
Banned Idiot
Hostage fears over troops seized by Iran
They may hold them near or at their nuclear sites as human shields- any attack on them will create "collateral damage" to the UK as well!
They may hold them near or at their nuclear sites as human shields- any attack on them will create "collateral damage" to the UK as well!
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If Iran does that they must be of the opinion that all diplomatics have failed or A. is deliberatly seeking confrontation.
The iranien leadership must know that usingg captured as human shields will only increase pressure and isolation.
The last time that happend the soldiers were released after some days of banter.
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Deleted member 675
Guest
Indeed they are playing with fire - those guys were operating under UN mandate. To arrest them because they may have strayed into disputed waters is ridiculous - it's clear this was planned from the start.
Schumacher
Senior Member
The Iranians are just testing the water and must have liked what they see so far. Don't think the Americans have said much so far.
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Deleted member 675
Guest
"Testing the water"? Quite apart from the fact they have illegally arrested RN personnel conducting operations on a UN mandate, the Iranians were reported as having said they'll put the soldiers on trial for espionage. That is ratcheting up the tensions - so is the fact they have denied British officials any access to them.
They have said they were not in Iranian waters and that they support us 100%.
Schumacher
Senior Member
Masushi, you have to learn to look at things objectively. Perhaps it's harder with UK perssonel involved. The Iranians say the soldiers were in Iranian waters, so who's to say which side committed the illegal act.
Popeye, I have wondered, and posted at length elsewhere, the same question.
Where was the Cornwalls?
As a Batch 3 Type 22 frigate, the Corwalls is a very capable ship, completely cable of taking on any of these gunboats that took her sailors, and probably, head to head, most of the Iranian Navy. She is armed with strong anti-surface, anti-air, and antri-submarine capablilities.
So, particularly given the history of thie Iranians pulling this very klind of stunt...where was the Cornwalls and what were her ROEs?
Given the situation, IMHO, she should never let any of her boarding parties be out of immediate range of her helos, guns, and or missiles, and should have required situational awareness to the point that if Iranian gunboats came to call, there would be plenty of time to warn them off, or sink them if they proceeded towards her personnel.
Calling Obi Wan. Where are you? What was going on here given that this very thing has already occurred before?
Unless there are some pretty strong offsetting conditions, I am afraid some Commander's head is going to roll and that he will be sailing a desk for the remainder of his career.
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Deleted member 675
Guest
The situation at the dhow was fine. The helo was called off to deal with another situation, so it was felt it had to respond - there was no reason to believe the Iranians would do anything so beligerant.
Also even if Cornwall was there, what could it have done? Shoot at the Iranians as soon as they appeared on the scene? That would have sparked an international incident and given the Iranians all the propaganda they needed. If they had attacked when they surrounded the marines, they could have killed their own men. I would like to know what the frigate was doing, but I'm not sure how it could have helped without making things even worse.
Except that they had done something precisely so belligerent in the past, in fact, the same exact thing! In the face of that, this should never have even come close to happening IMHO. That is my point.
As soon as the Iranian gunboats appeared on the scene. well off from the boarding party, the Cornwalls should have had the situational awareness (meaning the coverage from the Corwalls and her helos sensors), to immediately warn them off strongly, informing them that to approach within 5 miles of the UK operations, or some other appropriate distance giving the Cornwalls time to react, and yes, if they did not, if they kept coming they should have been fired upon.
Now you have an international incident anyway, with 15 loyal and brave British personnel being held captive, and it is being played out to the Iranian mullah's tune to embarrass the UK and will embolden the Iranians unless somethig is done to punish them.
But, as I say, that is simply my own opinion and nothing more.