A senior American commander has said he was "surprised" the British marines and sailors captured by Iranian forces
in the Persian Gulf over the weekend had not been more aggressive.
Lt-Cdr Erik Horner, who has been working alongside the task force to which the 15 captured Britons belonged, told The Independent
that his men would have fired on the Iranian Republican Guard rather than let themselves be taken hostage.
| Captive sailors |
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| UK media: Iran may use sailors as bargaining chip / AFP |
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Islamic republic threatening full-blown crisis over ‘invasion of its territorial waters’; The Times says sailors may have been victims of a deliberate ambush by Iran, perhaps seeking to use captives as hostages in stand-off between West over its nuclear program |
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"I don't want to second-guess the British after the fact, but our rules of engagement allow a little more latitude. Our boarding team's training is a little bit more towards self-preservation," he said.
"The unique US Navy rules of engagement say we not only have a right to self-defense, but also an obligation to self-defense. They (the British) had every right in my mind and every justification to defend themselves rather than allow themselves to be taken. Our reaction was, 'Why didn't your guys defend themselves?'" he added.
It was also reported that British intelligence had been warned by the CIA that Iran
would seek revenge for the detention of five suspected Iranian intelligence officers in Iraq two months ago but refused to raise threat levels in line with their US counterparts.
According to The Independent, in a telephone conversation with the Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Sunday night Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett "expressed concern regarding the detention of the British soldiers".
An Iranian official later confirmed that Iran may give consular access to the British sailors once an investigation into the incident is completed.
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