Iran confirms seizure of British boats

Iran seized three small British navy boats and arrested eight armed crew members today as they patrolled the Shatt al Arab waterway, which forms a southern border with Iraq.

The three vessels entered Iranian territorial waters, Iranian state TV reported.

“Iranian forces confiscated the ships and eight military personnel on board,” the report said.

State TV said crew members were carrying maps and weapons. It also said the ships were confiscated at about 11am (7.30am Irish time) between the Bahmanshir and Arvand rivers, which would put them in the Shatt al-Arab waterway east of the Iraqi city of Faw.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi confirmed the report.

“Interrogation of those detained will continue until the matter is clarified,” Asefi said.

Britain acknowledged it had lost contact with three small patrol boats this morning.

“I can confirm that three small royal navy patrol boats and eight crew have been out of communication since the early hours of this morning,” said a military spokesman in British controlled Basra.

In London, the British Foreign Office said British diplomats in Tehran had been in contact with the Iranian government but it was still unclear what had happened.

The Royal Navy has been training Iraqi personnel in coastal defence for several weeks on the Shatt al-Arab waterway, and it is possible that the vessel out of radio contact was taking part in such an exercise.

Anglo-Iranian relations have been strained in recent days, since London helped draft a International Atomic Energy Agency resolution rebuking Tehran for past nuclear cover-ups.

Iran accused Britain of caving in to American pressure.