| 2007 Iranian arrest of Royal Navy personnel | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 RHIB from HMS Cardiff, intercepting a cargo vessel off Iraq in 2002. Similar to those embarked on Cornwall. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Royal Navy |
 Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Border Guard Command | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 15 captured | none | ||||||
On 23 March 2007, fifteen Royal Navy personnel from HMS Cornwall were searching a merchant vessel when they were surrounded by the Navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and detained off the Iran–Iraq coast. In the course of events, British forces claimed that the vessel was in Iraqi waters, but the Iranians insisted that they were in Iran's territorial waters. The fifteen personnel were released thirteen days later on 4 April 2007.[1]
A year later, a British investigation report[2] was released which stated that the area in which the incident took place was not covered by any formal agreement between Iran and Iraq.[3][4]
- ^ "British sailors captured by Iran were in disputed waters: report". Agence France Presse. 16 April 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "UK Boarding Operations by CTF 158 in the Northern Arabian Gulf (redacted)". Ministry of Defence. 13 April 2007. CJO/D/LM (20/07). Archived from the original on 29 May 2008. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Dominic Kennedy (17 April 2008). "Report reveals Iran seized British sailors in disputed waters". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2008.
- ^ Thomas Harding (17 April 2008). "MoD account of Iranian kidnap in doubt". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 21 April 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2008.