Update #6 Thursday, April 05, 2007 - Day Fourteen: 15 British Sailors and Marines Captured by Iran

All 15 Captives
HOME AT LAST
This Crisis is now Over

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The 10 Downing Street website has this report that starts off like this... The 15 sailors and marines held by Iran for almost two weeks landed at Heathrow Airport around lunchtime. Mr. Blair welcomed their return but reflected on the news that four British soldiers were killed this morning in Iraq. He paid tribute to their bravery...
Read more at link below...
Freed Navy crew returns to UK

(10 Downing Street Photo)...

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The SKY News website is on top of this story today. Here’s just a little bit of what they are reporting... BA flight 6634 touched down at London's Heathrow airport just after midday... Sky News correspondent Ian Woods, who was on board, said there was "the sound of applause coming from the front" as it landed...
Read more at link below...
Over Here And Overjoyed...

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>>> Watch the homecoming HERE on Sky News Online...

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The MOD has for the first time confirmed the names
of the 15 personnel involved
They are:
Captain Christopher Air RM
Lieutenant Felix Carman RN
Chief Petty Officer Gavin Cavendish
Acting Sergeant Dean Harris
Leading Seaman Christopher Coe
Acting Leading Seaman Faye Turney
Lance Corporal Mark Banks
Marine Paul Barton
Able Seaman Andrew Henderson
Marine Adam Sperry
Marine Joe Tindell
Marine Daniel Masterton
Able Seaman Simon Massey
Able Seaman Arthur Batchelor
Able Seaman Nathan Summers

Read more from the MOD website HERE...

Video - Families watch return of RN sailors

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The BBC NEWS website has this story... Relatives and friends of the Royal Navy crew captured by Iran have spoken of their relief and joy at the announcement of their release...
Read this story in full HERE...

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Update #5 Wednesday, April 04, 2007 - Day Thirteen: 15 British Sailors and Marines Captured by Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Releases All 15 Captured British

Sailors and Marines

IRNA Photo

All the MSM news outlets are reporting this morning the wonderful news of the upcoming release of all the 15 British captives...

Alalam.ir website has this repot that starts off like this... Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Wednesday that his government would release the detained 15 soldiers on the Prophet Muhammad's birthday (PBUH) as a gift to the British people... He pardoned the sailors and announced their release minutes after he gave medals of honor to the Iranian coast guards who intercepted the sailors and marines, saying Iran will never accept trespassing of its territorial waters... The amnesty was granted on the auspicious occasion of birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and the Christian Easter festivity...
Read this report in full HERE

SMH.com.au has this take on the story that goes in part like this... "While insisting on our rights, these 15 sailors have been pardoned and we offer their freedom to the British people," Mr. Ahmadinejad said at a news conference in Tehran... "After the news conference they can go to the airport and go back home," Mr. Ahmadinejad said... An official said later that the crew would be released to the British embassy in Tehran...
Read the story in full HERE

IRNA.ir website has this report that goes in part like this... UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday in a phone call thanked IRI President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for pardoning 15 British naval troopers arrested for illegal entry to Iranian waters... President Ahmadinejad, too, congratulated the UN Sec Gen for his appointment at the post, pointing out that there are serious challenges at the international scene currently with which the nations are entangled... Ban Ki-moon thanks Ahmadinejad for marines' release...
Read the rest at link below...
Ban Ki-moon thanks Ahmadinejad for marines' release

FOXNEWS.com has this report this evening that starts off like this... British officials late Wednesday night said they expected Iran to make good on its promise to release 15 British sailors and marines, and hoped their journey back to London would begin "within hours." The British Foreign Office, meanwhile, confirmed that its ambassador to Iran had visited with the military personnel and reported that they were in good health...
Read the rest at link below...
British Expect Iran to Begin Release of 15 Captive Sailors, Marines 'Within Hours'

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Update #4 Monday, April 02, 2007 - Day Eleven: 15 British Sailors and Marines Captured by Iran

Forbes.com website has this story today and it starts off like this... Iranian state radio reported that all 15 British sailors and marines held captive by Iran have confessed to illegally entering Iranian waters but, in an apparent softening in the dispute, said their statements would not air because of "positive changes" from Britain... In London, an official said Britain has agreed to consider discussing with Iran how to avoid future disputes over contested waters in the Persian Gulf...

Read the rest of the story at link below...
Iranian Radio Reports 'Positive Changes'

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NCR-IRAN.org has this on their website today...
Is Iran Trying to Provoke Conflict with the West?
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Morning Press Briefing from the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman
Click HERE - Scroll down to IRAN

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Update #3 Thursday, March 29, 2007 - Day Seven: 15 British Sailors and Marines Captured by Iran

News1130.com has this story today that starts off like this... Britain said Thursday it is seeking United Nations condemnation of Iran for its capture and detention of 15 sailors and marines in disputed waters in the northern Persian Gulf... The British announcement came as Iran reneged on its promise to release the sole female British sailor among the captives. The Iranian military chief, Gen. Ali Reza Afshar, said that owing to the "wrong behaviour" of the British government, "the release of a female British soldier has been suspended," the semi-official Iranian news agency Mehr reported...
Read story in full at link below...
Britain seeks UN condemnation of Iran; female sailor's release 'suspended'

Guardian.co.uk has this take on the story today and it goes in part like this... “The important thing for us is to get them back safe and sound, but we can't enter into some basis of bargaining,” Blair said. “What you have to do when you are engaged with people like the Iranian regime, you have to keep explaining to them, very patiently, what it is necessary to do and at the same time make them fully aware there are further measures that will be taken if they're not prepared to be reasonable... What you can’t do is end up negotiating over hostages... end up saying there’s some quid pro quo or tit for tat... that’s not acceptable,” he said...
Read their story in full at link below...
Blair: Britain Won't Negotiate With Iran

And can you believe this!!!? PowerLineBlog.com is reporting this afternoon that Pelosi seems to be refusing to support the British with the Iran Crisis…
Read their report in full at link below…
Pelosi Refusing to Support British on Iran?

Tony Blair 10 Downing Street Website Photo

Update #2 Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - Day Six: 15 British Sailors and Marines Captured by Iran

Sky.com has this story today that starts off like this... Footage of the 15 British sailors and marines being held in Iran has been aired by Iranian TV... The video shows the group being arrested, eating food in captivity and carries an interview with Leading Seaman Faye Turney... ...
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Read this story in full at link below...
Captives Paraded On TV
(Has video and photos of the Captives)

* The Ministry of Defence has presented evidence which shows that the fifteen personnel detained by Iranian authorities on Friday 23rd were operating in Iraqi waters when they were seized... The briefing, at defence headquarters in London, was given by Vice Admiral Charles Style, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Commitments). Vice Admiral Style, who is responsible for providing strategic advice to operational commanders, explained in detail where the Royal Navy personnel were located when they were seized...
Read this report in full at link below...
MOD briefing shows Royal Navy personnel were in Iraqi waters

(Photo/Slide courtesy of MOD)

Update #1 Tuesday, March 27, 2007: 15 British Sailors and Marines Captured by Iran

BBC News is reporting that they are being told the group is being held at an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps base in Tehran... Efforts to secure the release of the 15 Royal Navy personnel will enter a "different phase" if diplomatic moves fail, Tony Blair has said...
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Read the story at link below...
PM warns Iran over Navy captives
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(British Royal Marines File photo by Cpl Ian Forsyth RLC)

Prime Minister Tony Blair Says Sailors Weren't In Iranian Waters

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday that 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran as they searched for smugglers off the Iraqi coast had been outside Iranian waters, and warned that Britain viewed their situation as "very serious." ... The group was seized at gunpoint on Friday, and the Foreign Office in London said British officials do not know where Iran is holding them... Speaking at an EU summit in Berlin, Blair said Iran's claim that the sailors had crossed into Iranian territorial waters "is simply not true." ... "I want to get (the situation) resolved in as easy and diplomatic a way as possible," Blair said, but added he hoped the Iranians "understood how fundamental an issue this is for the British government...”
Read the rest of the story at CHRON.com

I’ll be doing a lot of posting on this story in the upcoming days. But for now... I’ll give you a hint as to what I think might be going down by simply asking this...
Did you ever get that funny feeling that the other shoe is fixing to drop???
AubreyJ.........