Hoon suggests Iran seized soldiers
The Conservatives are calling for a full apology from Iran after the Defence Secretary revealed that Iran may have “forcibly escorted” UK soldiers into Iranian territorial waters.
Last week, eight UK servicemen were held for three days after they allegedly strayed into Iranian territorial waters on the border with Iraq.
There was outrage after video footage emerged of the servicemen being marched blindfolded.
After a tense diplomatic stand-off the men were released to British diplomats but their equipment still remains in Iranian custody.
In a surprise written statement late on Wednesday, the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, revealed that the men claimed they did not cross the border voluntarily, but were “forcibly escorted” by the Iranians.
Mr Hoon said: “I would like to reassure the House that British personnel are trained to observe the normal rules of maritime navigation and are issued with modern charts and equipment. This should be sufficient to prevent inadvertent digressions across the border and we are not aware of any previous allegations that the border has been violated.
“In recent more detailed debriefing, the crews have said that they were operating inside the Iraqi border and were forcibly escorted into Iranian territorial waters.
“Our assessment continues, and will be greatly assisted by the retrieval of navigational information in the global positioning system equipment carried by the crews. We are very concerned about the blindfolding of the men and have made representations about this to the government of Iran. We have also made it clear that we do not expect a recurrence of this type of incident.”
“We are continuing with negotiations for the return of the boats and equipment. The deadline set for their return passed yesterday.
“The equipment consists of personal weapons, ammunition, radios and navigation equipment including echo sounders (to measure the depth of the water), global positioning systems (to identify exact position) and up-to-date maritime charts.”
Mr Hoon also revealed that one of the men captured has been returned to the UK “for medical reasons associated with the incident.”
Two others have returned because their tour of duty has ended, but the others continue to work in Iraq.
Shadow Defence Secretary, Michael Ancram, said: “This is outrageous. Not only were our servicemen illegally seized and subsequently humiliated by being blindfolded and paraded in front of the TV cameras, their equipment which was also illegally seized has not been returned.
“The Government’s statement is far too weak -the Iranians have behaved in an unacceptable fashion and we should be making the strongest representations. At the very least, we expect a formal apology.”
In an interview with the BBC earlier, Mr Ancram also said that to reveal the news in a written statement was “extraordinary” as it made it impossible for questions to be asked on something “of great public interest.”
He called on the Government to explain the matter to the House later today.
