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Originally Posted by Penelope_Grey
What puzzles me is why the warship allowed those 15 men to be taken in the first place without doing something!
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From the Beeb -
The officer at the Ministry of Defence justified the lack of reaction by the British personnel. Their rules of engagement, he said, were adequate for self-defence, but they were taken by surprise as they left the ship they had inspected.
Two Iranian boats with far heavier weapons - rocket launchers and heavy machine guns against rifles and pistols - came alongside after indicating a friendly attitude.
Communications were lost immediately and then the two British boats were escorted by the Iranians and about four other Iranian boats "swarmed" in.
Some gaps in British preparations were evident from what the officer said. A Lynx helicopter monitoring the boarding had returned to the mother ship HMS Cornwall, which could not get nearer because of shallow water, and by the time the Cornwall realised what has happening, the British were on the Iranian side.
Iranian boats had about "three minutes" in which they made their approach, according to the officer, but nobody on the British side saw them. Mr Blair said the attitude of the British personnel had been "entirely sensible". If they had fired, there would "undoubtedly have been severe loss of life".