IRAN last night said there would be no need for a trial of the 15 military captives, signalling a lowering of the temperature in the dispute with Britain.

IRAN last night said there would be no need for a trial of the 15 military captives, signalling a lowering of the temperature in the dispute with Britain.
One of Iran's most powerful figures - Dr Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council - set out the regime's demands in exchange for a diplomatic resolution to the 12 day-long stand off.
Both sides yesterday moved away from public confrontation to private negotiation.

Hopes were raised as Dr Larijani said Tehran wanted the crisis resolved through diplomacy. "We definitely believe this can be resolved," he told Channel 4 News through an interpreter. "There is no need for any trial any more.

"
Iran's priority "is to solve the problem through proper diplomatic channels", he said.
However Dr Larijani insisted that Britain had "violated" its territory, adding that Iran was "not in the stone age" and did possess GPS technology to prove its case. He also called for an independent delegation to resolve the dispute over whether the British crew had been in Iraqi or Iranian waters at the time of their kidnap.

Sending a clear signal that he expected Britain to apologise, he called on the government to be "brave" enough to admit its mistake.
The Foreign Office last night said that diplomatic contacts with Tehran were continuing.
Apart from wider political clashes over Iran's nuclear capabilities, negotiations for the crew's release have also been slowed by the Iranian New Year.

But a press conference today with the president, Mahmoud Ahmandinejad, is expected to clarify the regime's position further.
Meanwhile, Downing Street admitted there was a lot going on "behind the scenes", as there was confirmation that a letter had been sent to the Iranians outlining how future disputes in the contentious Persian Gulf could be avoided.
An Iranian television report welcomed a so-called change in Britain's stance, away from the very public attempts to isolate Iran.

"If this path continues, one can hope that the issue would be resolved in a bilateral process and far away from fuss and clamour and with achieving Iran's logical demands," state-run TV said.
Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, told The Scotsman that Iran would not want a serious confrontation.
"They just want to show the West that this approach of pressure is not going to work and Iran can reciprocate.

That's why you see this schizophrenic mood in Tehran. On the one hand they want to make it clear they're not going to be put under pressure and on the other that they don't want a confrontation."
• A former American FBI agent has gone missing in Iran while on private business there, the US state department said last night.

The United States said it was sending an official inquiry to Iran via Swiss diplomats, who act as a go-between with Tehran because the two countries do not have diplomatic relations.
The man is believed to have gone missing on Kish Island, off the southern coast of Iran, on about 11 March.
A spokesman for the state department denied any link between this incident and the detention of the 15 British personnel.

Penny Banks, 49, and her husband Allistair, 52, said many people were "incredibly proud" of Royal Marine Mark Banks.
"We would like to thank everyone who has provided, and continues to provide, support and encouragement at this very distressing time," said Mr and Mrs Banks, of Lowestoft, Suffolk.
"We know Mark would be very humbled and overwhelmed by the huge amount of love and support his friends and family have shown.

Mark is a very strong and determined lad and we hope he is drawing strength and courage in the knowledge that he has so many people that are incredibly proud of him.
"Our thoughts and hopes are for his safe and speedy release along with his fellow comrades. We miss him immensely, but know he has the strength of character to get through this difficult time, and look forward to seeing him at home soon.

"
Marine Banks, 24, is understood to have served in the armed forces for about three years.
Meanwhile, the family of Royal Marines Captain Chris Air spoke of their pride of him. In a statement, the family said television footage "actually brought us some comfort, even though we also hold to the belief that it is a wrong action by the Iranian authorities".

Cooler heads will prevail, as they always will.
Some who speak of invasion , bombing and cowardice only show why they would never be diplomats.
We are never quite as angry the morning after.

Somebody has to submit.
I wonder who is going to be the submissive one?
Will it be Brittain or Iran?

Politicians on neither side can submit lest they appear weak or lose face. And then if a war breaks out it's not their children who have to go die.; it's our kids.

We should just lock Blair, Bush, Cheney, Mugtada al Sadr, Bin Ladin and Ahmadinejad in room with two knives. Whoever walks out gets to think they won. The rest us can just go live our lives without wars or fighting.

All the prisoners of war, enemy combatants, hostages, etc get to go home to their families. If more courageous leaders pop up trying to volunteer our kids for a war, we lock them up in the room with the knives.
The Iranians have long memories of British intervention and exploitation.

...

hence the animosity to pressure which in fact will get them nowhere.
It would be a far better cry to have a bad agreement than a good fight.Something along the line of
if I did in fact i did infringe into your territory then
of course you have my apologies I think that would satisfy both parties.

Perhaps some agreement before it happens again might be prudent...

...

..50 50 hindsight maybe
So Iran does have some real politicians, thank god.

The sooner we can start talking to them the better. Dinnerjacket needs to be isolated and marginalised.
I still can't rationalize in my mind how the British were the antagonists in this case.

However, I can clearly see how Iran was. I'm also having trouble convincing myself that all this talk about how the Brits mistreated Iran over the last hundred years is really at the heart of this conflict. I'm more inclined to think this is about current day matters.

I also don't think Britain or the US have unfairly antagonized Iran by their actions in Iraq. There was no love lost between Iran and Iraq before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, so they certainly don’t miss him now. Although I’m pretty sure the Iranians would like to fill the power vacuum that was created with the overthrow of Saddam.

It looks more to me like the Iranian government is challenging Western culture and all those that support and represent it, and trying to convince the rest of the world that they are the new leaders of the anti-US movement. Of course, since Britain has a record of supporting the US that makes them targets for Iranian aggression as well.
This really makes me wonder.

Iran said that the sailors and marines all said that they were guilty.
That there was not going to be a trial.
Usually when you say you are guilty there isn't a trial but there is a sentencing.

My only hope and prayer right now is that they do let them go.
But since there were coherced into saying they were guilty there isn't any trial, but what of the sentencing? I keep reading NO TRIAL, but there isn't anything on a sentence.

If I were Iran, I'd play that fish on the hook for all its worth.
Blair did the Kowtow, Europe did nothing,the UN did nothing, issue resolved. Iran got what they wanted.

As I stated in past postings, the British Captives will be released when the Iranian Leader feels he has sufficiently humiliated and humbled the British to the degree that he thinks they are the laughing Stock of the World, as Iran has really enjoyed this World Media Attention. Kind of reminds me when Bagdad Bob was broadcasting, but things just didn't go his way when the TV Station blew up..

...

.
Like leading a pet on a leash, Iran has had their way once again. Unless the mood changes I believe they are getting bored waiting for a British response.

Kind of like wearing a new pair of clothes, they get old after the first wash...

.
It's a shame the poor families of these hostages have had to go on this roller coaster ride. I guess it could be worse as it was in 1979 when the Iranian Guard stole the bodies of our honorable soldiers and drug them though the streets of Tehran.

What is a Country when it loses it's Honor? Time to crawl in a hole and hide, otherwise more of the same is to come..

...

..
I knew the whole affair would wind up being blamed on the US eventually.

WORRIER # 11
You wrote : As I stated in past postings, the British Captives will be released when the Iranian Leader feels he has sufficiently humiliated and humbled the British to the degree that he thinks they are the laughing Stock of the World, as Iran has really enjoyed this World Media Attention.
NONSENSE - I think those held in Abu –Gharib and Guantanameo bay are humiliated and humbled. In the humanitarian aspect of the case Iran has treated these sailors in the best manner .

You nor your Government is in no place to pass as judge on the U.S.A.

Your Governments previous actions speak for themselves as fact, and now they began the cycle all over once again!
13. entropent
I knew the whole affair would wind up being blamed on the US eventually.

...

Quote from the above article:
Better understanding of the seriousness of the US action in Arbil - and the angry Iranian response to it - should have led Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence to realise that Iran was likely to retaliate against American or British forces such as highly vulnerable Navy search parties in the Gulf.
It is obvious to me that our criminal leader Bliar was fully aware of the vulnerability of the Royal Navy search parties, but elected to do nothing about it.
One can only guess at his motives; but a hostile act by the Iranians, such as arresting an unprotected search party, would give him a wonderful propaganda opportunity.

The Iranians took the bait, and here we are. Bliar could have secured the release of the captives all along with a suitably worded apology, and he still could. But he's not going to, not while there's a good excuse for an attack on Iran in the offing.

Interesting: EUreferendum raises the possibility that the female Marine was part of the captured boarding party as a token, because the BBC was filming a piece on operations in the Gulf, and interviewed Commodore Lambert the morning of the abduction. Was the ill-fated mission a show for the news crew?
17.

entropent
Thanks for the EUreferendum link. It blows the lid off everything, also take a look at the comments.
It is beginning to look as if the whole thing was a fully orchestrated set up.

Camera crew at the ready, lady driver, orders not to fire, marine captain in charge of boarding party, sidearms only, high risk of capture.
But the cruncher is that HMS Cornwall is the flagship for the coalition fleet of twelve vessels, and Commodore Lambert could have called in massive sea and air support to rescue the captives at the throw of a switch, but didn't. He had his orders not to.

Entropent: Interesting links. There was an interview on Newsnight last night with an ex-government marine expert (sorry can't remember the man's name). Main points he raised were:
2) Due to the natural shifts that occur in the area the boundaries are generally subject to a ten year review - this has not been undertaken.

Therefore it is likely that both the UK and Iran are right (or wrong)
3) This situation had been turned into a crisis by number 10's intervention and attitude.

It seems to me that this has been an orchestrated PR job that has turned into a disaster for the the 15 personnel.
If the capture of 15 Royal Marines was indeed a result of a show mission for the BBC (and the operative word is IF), then Commodore Lambert should be held responsible.

Where's Boyce the Balloon on this thread? We are missing his insight!
By the way, if you are reading, you failed to answer my question from the previous thread:
Well, care to answer the question?

Did you or did you not vote at the last election? I'm not interested in who it was for.
I suspect I know why as well.

Admit it, you didn't vote, did you? Hands up anyone else here, who thinks they have the right to complain or criticise the Govt but didn't vote? You should shut up now - you lost your right to complain.

21. Auckland Arab, New Zealand
Abstention from voting does not remove your right to complain.
Did you vote?

If so for who and where?
What next - kamikaze RAF pilots?
In an official statement to The Sun, the MoD said: “Air Vice Marshal Walker did not say he would order his crews on suicide missions.

Oh well as long as he would not order his crews to do it - that's alright then!
17 Entropent - she is NOT a Royal Marine, she is a sailor. Get your facts right.

18 Bill, England - I knew it, it was only a matter of time before all you fundamentalist apologists found 'evidence' that it was a set up by HMG.
Get real, the lot of you.
The RN have being doing stop and search patrols in this area for a very long time.

To be seen to be calling a halt to them simply because Iran farts will simpy send the wrong signal. Yes HMS Cronwall is the flagship - so what, we're not talking about a carrier battle group here - we're talking routine naval anti-smuggling operations.
The fact there was a camera crew here, or there, or anywhere, for Gods sake its the Gulf, you can't drive for five miles without running into a camera crew!

Yes I'm sure the military were quite convinced Iran would do something. Knowing that is not the same as knowing what, or where.
Understand?

Or can you only soak up whatever drivel you 'read' in your sunday comics and go round driblling it over everyone else? Are your brains for thinking with or just for keeping your head from imploding?
What SHOULD HMG have done?

Declared war? Carried out a strike against an Iranian naval base? Shot and killed the Rovolutionary Guard units that were trying to kidnap the sailors?

Should we do this EVERY time a sailor is kidnapped, because if so there are quite a few French trawlermen who would be dead now if we did that?
We are dealing with a country who's leader has stated, publically, that Israel should be destroyed and the Holocaust never happened. We're also dealing with a country whose religious leaders think nothing of sending half a million young men and boys to their deaths against Iraqi tanks.

Do you REALLY think we can defeat Iran in war without resorting to Nuclear weapons?
This WAS NOT a set up. HMG knew something was going to happen and the appropriate commanders in the field were warned.

AFter that it was just a matter of waiting for the other shoe to drop. HMG has shown evidence (GPS evidence amonmg others) that the British servicemen were operating legimitaly within Iraqi waters at the request of the Iraqi Government and that the Iranians crossed into Iraqi territorial waters illegally and kidnapped the British servicemen illegally who were by the way under strict instructions NOT to provoke a gunfight or open fire unless their lives were in danger.
Has it not occured to you that the Revolutionary Guard are doing this to send a message?

And that the recipients of the message are NOT the West but the moderates within the Iranian Government?
This isn't about us, the UK or America; the Guard are sending the moderates within their own government a simple message: Don't give too much away to the West, or else we will start a war for you .
#16, Bill, My God you want it both ways again.

Is there no end to your venom? You and a couple of others continue to blame the US for every wrong in the world and you do it under the guise of being fair. Tony Blair a war criminal come on be realistic.

He is the political head of a country that has a right to do whatever he feels he needs to to protect the likes of you. Don't like him you have the option of removing him from office with an election or a no confidence vote.
#14--Faramars---you know as much about GTMO, as i know about how these Brave British Sailors are treated, while not on camera!

!!.

...

.
I quickly remember how your countryman treated our citizens and soldiers back in 1979. How they were also beaten, blindfolded, Paraded on World TV, and their honorable dead bodies praded on WORLD T.

V. by a band of Raving Maniacs..

..
You nor your Government is in no place to pass as judge on the U.

S.A. Your Governments previous actions speak for themselves as fact, and now they began the cycle all over once again!

25. Andy Loates, Rotherham UK
The RN search crew were not in Iraqi waters, and they were captured not kidnapped. They were not adequately protected for their dangerous mission.

They were bait for the Revolutionary Guard who rose to it.

'
Exactly what happens when the Iranians yet again throw another spanner in the works due to some spurious or perceived slight and the whole farce drags on and on and on like the Carter hostage situation?
Diplomacy only works with people who understand the concept of diplomacy and are willing to abide by it's conventions. The Iranians are hostile to both, as they will prove.

This is just a game to them to make us look stupid and ineffectual. Not that our PM needs any help on that score.
If we continue to let this situation drag on with only worthy words and weasel get out clauses.

.no matter who is to 'blame' then we deserve what future generations will reap from the passivity of our self loathing, dissolute society.
Freedom, democracy, call it what you will has to be 'fought' for and if you don't 'fight' for it you lose it.

26. Reading Public, Wisc/USA/Scotland/Happily Retired
I am not blaming the US for every wrong in the world. I am certainly blaming Bush and Blair for carrying out an illegal invasion, and deceiving us with lies in order to be able to do it.

Yes, Bush and Blair are war criminals. Their illegal acts have directly caused the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and indirectly hundreds of thousands more. They should be put on trial for their crimes, along with their fellow conspirators.

Tony Blair ...

. is the political head of a country that has a right to do whatever he feels he needs to to protect the likes of you.
Providing he does not act illegally, and does not lie.

Guilty on both counts, and he should be impeached.
Don't like him you have the option of removing him from office with an election or a no confidence vote.
Only the Labour Party can remove him from office when he is in power, and only Parliament can give a no confidence vote to make his position untenable.

The evidence solidly supports the fact that people choose to be homosexuals; they were not born that way.
No researcher has found provable biological or genetic differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals, that were not caused by their behavior. Studies show that parents recognize that the orientation of their children was learned.

In research after research, from the 1930s until the early 1970s (when a “politically correct” answer emerged), only about 10% of homosexuals claimed they were “born that way.”
Most gays become that way, because an older person initiates them into it—and they decide they like it. Most admit that their first partner was an older gay (I.

Bieber, et. al., Homosexuality: A Psychoanalytic Study, 1962).

Frequently, a key factor was whether it was the person’s first sexual experience. Parents, guard your children!
Religious convictions are a factor.

Those raised in non-religious homes are more likely to become gay.
Many gays and lesbians change their sexual preference, back and forth. Many leave sodomy forever, never to return.

Other factors, predisposing to homosexuality, include: gay teachers and authority figures, severe problems in the home, exposure to pornography, and rape. Many studies have been done on this.
#31 Bill - There was a big lie that got us into war in Iraq, but the lier was Saddam Hussein, not Bush and Blair.

They were misled just like everyone else.
33. GFE, Texas, USA
We pay good money to Bush and Blair not to be misled, and they have virtually unlimited resources to get at the truth.

Unfortunately, they use these resources for their own nefarious ends.
#25--Andy Loates--- has it occured to you that the Revolutionary Guard are doing this to send a message? and that the recipients of this message are not the west but the moderates within the Iranian government?

...

.accurately put!.

...

it appears the non-revolutionary guard maybe calling the shots right now. i don't know who they are, but i'd guess they made the A,jad cancel his press conference. perhaps Faramars@14 has input?

#14--Faramars--please inform us who the moderates (non-revolutionary/guard) are if #25 is correct?
#32--another coward unable or afraid or embarrassed to use it's own name. cowardly-troll.

..
Many studies have been conducted on this; but we will briefly note that, in the largest study, only one-half of a percent of Americans have had a homosexual parent.

Those who did were more likely to (1) be sexually molested, (2) report having had sex with a parent, (3) experience homosexuality as their first sexual experience, (4) become homosexual or bisexual, and (5) report dissatisfaction with their childhood (P. K. Cameron, Homosexual parents, Adolescence, 1996, 31:757-776).

The various studies reveal that children of gays are more than 3 times as likely to become homosexual than children in traditional homes (P. K. Cameron, J.

Psychology, 1997, 131:1-20). Dozens of court cases show that children of homosexuals are more apt to be sexually molested by a parent (Ibid.).

was primarily to draw attention to the fact that Commodore Nick Lambert was commander of a coalition task force, which included 12 vessels, including well-armed patrol boats with shallow draught.
He had at his disposal, therefore, more than adequate vessels to provide an escort for the boats conducting the inspection of the freighter. On that basis, there does not seem to be a good reason why he should have sent the boats, unescorted, eight miles from the mother ship, into shallow waters where HMS Cornwall could not intervene in the event of trouble.

The essential point is, though, that if the boats had been escorted, the likelihood is that the Iranian boats would not have attempted anything. We have learned that Iranina incursions have been frequest, but hitherto have been seen off by superior forces without incident.
Only in this case, where the Iranians caught a poorly armed boarding party, with no back-up, were they able to abduct the crews.

The inference are obvious.
Why do we throw the baby out with the bath water.
By closing the Baathist party down we have created a massive power vacuum.

In a peaceful land this would be exciting, in Iraq its deadly.
Sometimes, when you are strong, you appear weak. However in Iraq, the government appears weak, the Baathists are the best way of appearing strong.

number 17 I agree with most of the comments on that link page. How can anyone ever believe anything that blair says anymore. He is crap at his job and is only in it for what he can get out of it like a 3 million pound house two flats in bristol and a speaking tour of the usa when he retires.

can't trust them to keep their word...

.ever..

.liars all!
its just been on the news that the uk is dealing with this bilaterally.

this is good news it means that we wont have to worry about bush making things even worse.
#45 Connelly's Daughter: Yes I have just been watching that myself.
They also showed still photographs of the personnel.

Whilst I realise that this must be quite upsetting for their families at least they know that they are alive and well.
#39 Richard N: If this was a PR exercise that went badly wrong then, as you say, someone has to be held accountable.
what if Iran paid a group of Americans and gave them other help too to encourage that group to overthrow the US government?

And what if that group so encouraged by Iran succeeded at removing Bush his regime and then cut off George Bush's head?
That's what the US did to Iran back in the 1950's. That CIA agent named Roosevelt came back to the US after he got these things done and he gave a lecture about it at a US university.

The lecture was recorded.
I see people complaining that some Iranians took 50 Americans prisoner back in 1979, but what if Iran did to the US what the US did to Iran? Imagine the outrage.

57Nomad, california
I've been doing some reading up about Mossadeq, but could find no evidence that he was a communist or in the employ of the Russian KGB.
In fact, he is referred to as being an ardent nationalist and anti-communist. The CIA/SIS ran a campaign to smear and discredit him as part of the plan to overthrow him, and I have little doubt that this is where the accusation originated.

9
What exactly did they get?
7
Its called Politics and the truth right and wrong dont enter into it.
10
Much better than the alternative.

11
You would be happier with dead hostages and a blood bath rather than a piece of humble pie.
Somewhere down the line the UK will get its revenge one way or another thats how the games played.
12
And the last honourable thing the US government has done is what?

14
Good point, doesnt excuse the Iranian government though if indeed they did kidnap the Sailors. If so They still commited an international crime. I believe its called Piracy.

15
Shouldnt interfere with other countries elections or leadership changes then should you.
18
Possible but hard to prove its just as likely the Iranians nipped over the border and took em by surprise. We may never know for sure.

21
You have yet to answer a single question I have put to you on any of the blogs. But you are right I didnt personally vote at the last election I was working abroad. My wife had my proxy vote and voted for me not that it makes any difference because there was no point to your question in the first place as usual.

Anything else keeping you up at night? Awkward Arab.
Come on Awkward you have a question from comment 22 to answer.

Aye long on whine short on shine. Again.
Saw that on the news and I thought I wonder how they train for that?

and how do they pass on their experiance to younger pilots.