Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

AP: Iranian TV airs new video of Britons

Iran’s state television aired new video Sunday showing two of the 15 captured British sailors pointing to a spot on a map of the Persian Gulf where they were seized and acknowledging it was in Iranian territorial waters.

Britain’s Foreign Office immediately denounced the video, saying it was “completely unacceptable for these pictures to be shown on TV.”

The captives first appeared on appeared on the state-run Arabic-language TV channel Al-Alam in separate video clips looking relaxed in military fatigues and pointing at the same map of the Persian Gulf. They were talking to a camera but the channel did not air their voices. Two state-run Farsi-language TV stations later carried their voices along with the video.

The first sailor, who was identified as Royal Marine Capt. Chris Air, pointed with a pen to a location on the map where he said two boats left a coalition warship around 8:30 a.m. on March 23. He said the seven marines and eight navy sailors were seized around 10 a.m. and according to Iran’s maps and GPS, it was “apparently … inside Iranian territorial waters.”

“We’ve been treated very well and we thank you for that,” he said.

More humiliation for Britain and doesn’t Iran just love to rub their nose in it? But, Americans have a like experience with our 444 day captives from the American embassy fiasco of President Jimmy Carter.

Isn’t it obvious that the Brits were in Iraqi Waters and that this capture was a set-up by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards? After all, if the Brits were in Iran’s waters a couple of things:

1. Why would the British government NOT admit straight away their mistake, swallow thier pride and apologize?

2. Why wouldn’t the sailors put up some sort of struggle to get the “hell out of there?”

3. Why did the Iranians NOT shoot across the bow of the Brit ship? As a warning?

Obviously, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards wanted to capture, hold hostage and humiliate the West by holding military personnel and parading them before the Arab Street.

Now, let’s look at the British response. Here is a clip of Prime Minister Tony Blair on the 30th:

Doesn’t the PM look like he is about to shit his pants?

What kind of signal does this send to the Mullahs? the European Union? the Arab Street?

How do you spell WEAK and SCARED?

As the negotiations draw out, news commentators will start counting the days the hostages have been held – just like ABC’s Ted Kopell and Nightline in 1979.

And what about Iran’s nuclear program?

Do you think Britain will ever be credible on stopping Iran’s nuclear weapon’s program?  Hell, they cannot even protect and stand up for fifteen of their own sailors.

Like Flap has said over and over – the United States and Israel are on their own.

Stay tuned………Next will be the burning and attempted take over of the British Embassy in Tehran.

A video grab taken from the Iranian Arabic-speaking television station Al-Alam shows a British sailor speaking in front of a chart of the Gulf waters. Britain and Iran were engaged in direct talks over 15 detained British naval personnel, both sides said Sunday, but high emotions threatened to derail diplomatic efforts as Tehran showed new television footage of the captives

Previous:

Iran Watch: Iran Protesters Target British Embassy

Iran Watch: Feckless Brits Seek Deal With Iran

Iran Watch: British Sailors May Be Tried By Iran

Iran Watch: Iran Releases Video and Letter of Captured British Hostages

Iran Watch: Britain Seeks Iran Condemnation from the United Nations

Iran Watch: Britain Must FIRST Admit “MISTAKE”

Iran Watch: Iran Parades Brit Hostages on TV

Iran Watch: Tony Blair Warns Iran

Iran Watch: Captured Brits – Show Trial or Bluff?

Iran Watch: Iran May Charge British Sailors

Iran Watch: Iran to Try Brits for Spying?

Iran Watch: British Troops Transported To Tehran

Iran Watch: Are Seized British Troops Hostages?

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad Cancels United Nations Appearance

Iran Watch: Iran Seizes British Sailors in Iraq Waters

---

Technorati Tags: Iran, Iraq, Britain, UnitedKingdom, YahyaRahimSafavi, TonyBlair, ManouchehrMottaki, MahmoudAhmadinejad

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad(C) leaves the Friday prayers at Tehran university, 30 March 2007. Ahmadinejad again called for Britain to apologise for its sailors entering Iranian waters, the state news agency IRNA reported.

Ahmadinejad Calls U.K., Allies Arrogant

Iran’s hardline president said Saturday that Britain and its allies were “arrogant and selfish” for not apologizing over what he called the incursion of 15 captured British sailors and marines into Iranian waters.

President Bush described the 15 Britons as “hostages” in his first comments on the capture and said their seizure was “inexcusable,” calling for their release.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s most extensive comments on the crisis closely followed tough talk from other Iranian officials, an indication that Tehran’s position could be hardening.

Britain, meanwhile, appeared to be easing its stance, emphasizing its desire to talk with Iran about what it termed a regrettable situation.

“We continue to express our willingness to engage in dialogue and discussions with Iran,” Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said at a European Union summit in Bremen, Germany. I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen … What we want is a way out of it.”

Iran appeared unreceptive.

Of course, Iran will be unreceptive of the feckless Brits. Britain has shown itself to be WEAK. So, Iran will take advantage. Iran will want more.

Remember when President Ronald Reagan made the statement of “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH” an American foreign policy standard?

Tony Blair and the British have made “negotiate and beg” their national foreign policy standard.

The Brits need to show some backbone and intestinal fortitude or become subservient Dhimmis to the great Caliphate of Iran.

U.S. President George W. Bush answers a question during a joint news conference with Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Camp David in Maryland March 31, 2007. Bush said on Saturday that Iran’s detention of 15 British sailors and marines was inexcusable and called on Tehran to release “the hostages” immediately.

In the meantime, the British government is trying to negotiate a “DEAL” with Iran.

Ministers seek deal with Iran for captives

Ministers are preparing a compromise deal to allow Iran to save face and release its 15 British military captives by promising that the Royal Navy will never knowingly enter Iranian waters without permission.

The Sunday Telegraph has learnt of plans to send a Royal Navy captain or commodore to Teheran, as a special envoy of the Government, to deliver a public assurance that officials hope will end the diplomatic standoff.

The move, which was discussed at a meeting of Whitehall’s Cobra crisis committee yesterday, came as Downing Street officials explicitly cautioned against hopes of a speedy outcome and said that families of the hostages should prepare for the “long haul”.

What a joke.

But, Britain can deal with Iran as it sees fit.

Iran knows that had they attacked and attempted to capture an American vessel that at the least the Americans would have fought them and that there would be no negotiations only reprisals.

Some Brits are not too happy:

Defence officials emphasised that they were not preparing to concede that the two British boats detained nine days ago were at fault. But one said: “We are quite prepared to give the Iranians a guarantee that we would never knowingly enter their waters without their permission, now or in the future.

We are not apologising, nor are we saying that we entered their waters in the first place. But it may offer a route out of the crisis.”

Details of the strategy emerged as a former Falklands War commander expressed fury at how the sailors surrendered to Iranian gunboats without a fight.

Maj Gen Julian Thompson called for a review of the Navy’s rules of engagement, dictated by the United Nations, that they cannot open fire unless they are shot at first. “In my view this thing is a complete cock-up,” he said.

“I want to know why the Marines didn’t open fire or put up some sort of fight. My fear is that they didn’t have the right rules of engagement, which would allow them to do this.”

This photo released by the Ministry of Defence shows the HMS Cornwall on station in the Gulf. More people in Britain oppose military action than support it to end the standoff over Iran’s capture of 15 British military personnel in the Gulf, a poll published at the weekend said.

Stay tuned……

Iranians wave their national flag during a celebration to mark the Islamic Republic Day in Tehran’s Revolution Square.

Previous:

Iran Watch: British Sailors May Be Tried By Iran

Iran Watch: Iran Releases Video and Letter of Captured British Hostages

Iran Watch: Britain Seeks Iran Condemnation from the United Nations

Iran Watch: Britain Must FIRST Admit “MISTAKE”

Iran Watch: Iran Parades Brit Hostages on TV

Iran Watch: Tony Blair Warns Iran

Iran Watch: Captured Brits – Show Trial or Bluff?

Iran Watch: Iran May Charge British Sailors

Iran Watch: Iran to Try Brits for Spying?

Iran Watch: British Troops Transported To Tehran

Iran Watch: Are Seized British Troops Hostages?

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad Cancels United Nations Appearance

Iran Watch: Iran Seizes British Sailors in Iraq Waters

---

Technorati Tags: Iran, Iraq, Britain, UnitedKingdom, YahyaRahimSafavi, TonyBlair, ManouchehrMottaki, MahmoudAhmadinejad

British Prime Minister Tony Blair looks on at a Public Service Reform conference in Westminster, London, Tuesday, March 27, 2007. Britain hopes that diplomacy will win the release of 15 sailors and marines detained by Iran but is prepared to move to a ‘different phase’ if negotiations fail, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday.

PM warns Iran over Navy captives

Downing Street said the UK could end up releasing evidence proving the group had not ventured into Iranian waters.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has called for their “speedy return”.

Meanwhile, the family of the only woman detained, Faye Turney from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, has said this is a “very distressing time” for them.

The BBC has been told the group are being held at an Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps base in Tehran.

Iran says they were trespassing in Iranian waters when they were seized on Friday – but the prime minister said the group were in Iraqi waters under a UN mandate.

And what does a “different phase” mean?

Coincidentally (or not), the United States Navy with the John C. Stennis has been conducting manuvers in and around the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran.

The U.S. Navy on Tuesday began its largest demonstration of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by a pair of aircraft carriers and backed by warplanes flying simulated attack maneuvers off the coast of Iran.

The maneuvers bring together two strike groups of U.S. warships and more than 100 U.S. warplanes to conduct simulated air warfare in the crowded Gulf shipping lanes.

The U.S. exercises come just four days after Iran’s capture of 15 British sailors and marines who Iran said had strayed into Iranian waters near the Gulf. Britain and the U.S. Navy have insisted the British sailors were operating in Iraqi waters.

Fancy that……

USS John C. Stennis

And the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is in the region conducting war games with the USS John C. Stennis.

USS Dwight David Eisenhower

Stay tuned……

British hostages paraded in Iran on TV in 2004

Previous:

Iran Watch: Captured Brits – Show Trial or Bluff?

Iran Watch: Iran May Charge British Sailors

Iran Watch: Iran to Try Brits for Spying?

Iran Watch: British Troops Transported To Tehran

Iran Watch: Are Seized British Troops Hostages?

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad Cancels United Nations Appearance

Iran Watch: Iran Seizes British Sailors in Iraq Waters

---

Technorati Tags: Iran, Iraq, Britain, UnitedKingdom, YahyaRahimSafavi, TonyBlair

Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair (L) and Iraq ‘s Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki speak at a news conference in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad December 17, 2006. Blair pledged his full support for Iraq’s government during a visit to Baghdad on Sunday and vowed not to let democracy be destroyed by ‘those who wish to live in hatred’.

Reuters: Blair to urge Middle East states to rein in Iran

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will call on Wednesday for Middle East states to rein in what he calls the threat from Iran and to help advance peacemaking between Israelis and Palestinians.

Speaking in the United Arab Emirates, he will underline what has been the theme of his Middle East tour: moderate leaders must be empowered against extremists.

“We must recognize the strategic threat the government of Iran poses, not its people, not possibly all of its ruling elements, but those presently in charge of its policy,” he will say, according to extracts of his speech released by his office.

Iran seeks “to pin us back in Lebanon, in Iraq and in Palestine,” he will tell business leaders in Dubai.

“Our response should be to expose what they are doing, build the alliances to prevent it and pin them back across the whole of the region.”

He says to do this “we need the open and clear backing of the countries in this region that know better than me what is happening and why.”

In the meantime, the United States is considering a show of military force against Iran.

And Russia is still STALLING United Nations sanctions.

TICK TOCK TICK TOCK

Tony Blair is preparing the Middle East for the eventuality of the “POINT OF NO RETURN.”

Americans know the Brits will be with the United States.

The other countries of the Middle East can either help the United States and Iran achieve a negotiated settlement – which means a NO NUKE IRAN or get the hell out of the way of the United States military, NATO and the Israeli Defense Forces.

Stay tuned…….

The USS Enterprise and USS Dwight David Eisenhower

Iran Nuclear Watch: United States Considering Show Of Force Against Iran

Iran Nuclear Watch: Meir Dagan Head of Israeli Espionage Agency – Iran Will Possess Nuclear Bomb By 2009-2010

Cox & Forkum: Genocidal Logic

Iran Nuclear Watch: A Military Option Redux

John Hinderaker: Mr. President, If I May Be So Bold…

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Rejects New United Nations Security Council Sanction Resolution Before it is Adopted

Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad – ” Just As the Soviet Union Was Wiped Out and Today Does Not Exist, So Will the Zionist Regime Soon Be Wiped Out”

Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Expands Uranium Enrichment – AGAIN

The Iran Nuclear Files

The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.

---

Technorati Tags: Iran, Ahmadinejad