Master Plan
From the AP today:
LONDON — An Iranian opposition group claimed Saturday that Iran’s capture of 15 British sailors and marines was planned in advance and carried out in retaliation for the U.N. sanctions imposed against the country.
Iran appears intent on sending a message of strength as it faces mounting U.N. sanctions over its uranium enrichment program, which the U.S. and other nations suspect the Islamic Republic is using to develop nuclear weapons.
Hossein Abedini, a member of the opposition group’s foreign affairs committee, claimed the group had obtained information from sources within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard and had passed details to the British government.
Mohammad Mohaddessin, who handles foreign affairs for the group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said in a statement that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had ordered the detention of the Britons in the hope of pressuring the British government over a threat to toughen U.N. sanctions.
Abedini told a London press conference that an Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval garrison had been on alert from the night before the kidnapping, to prepare for the operation.
“You can see that the clerical regime had in a premeditated act arrested British sailors in order to win concessions from the international community and divert attention from its nuclear project,” Abedini said. “Claims that the sailors were arrested in Iranian territorial waters are baseless.”
Britain’s Foreign Office reiterated that the personnel “were in Iraqi waters and we continue to request immediate consular access to them and their immediate release.”
Britain has frozen most contacts with Iran and referred the issue to the U.N. Security Council, which expressed “grave concern” on Thursday over Iran’s seizure last week of the Britons.
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Anyone know the name of this opposition group?
‘Hossein Abedini, a member of the opposition group’s foreign affairs committee’
If Abedini lives in Iran, he’s got some pair to make such a claim against ‘I’m mad in the Jihad’ Ahmadinejad. I am going back to my garage now to work on my Mullah bomb. It sends out a powerful audio sound that says, ‘Allah Akbar’ and then once many radical muslims are in proximity, it frags out razor sharp keepas and bacon grease while leaving buildings and civilians free from damage. Back to my tinkering…
March 31st, 2007 at 12:43 pmWell, since I’m new to actually posting on this site some one nicely correct me if I’m outta line posting this for ya’ll:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/
March 31, 2007
Hostage-Taker In Chief
England’s Sun newspaper has information about the Iranian kidnapping of British sailors and Marines that I haven’t seen elsewhere; it apparently comes from Whitehall:
Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi is the all-powerful chief of the Revolutionary Guards, the military fanatics holding our Royal Navy heroes.
Intelligence sources believe the kidnapping of 14 men and one woman last week could be Safavi’s revenge for a series of blows recently inflicted on him by the West.
His Guards train and fund Shiite Muslim insurgents to kill British and US soldiers in Iraq.
But Safavi’s evil campaign received a setback in December, when a UN resolution froze all his foreign assets over his role in Iran’s quest for a nuclear arsenal.
Then in January US special forces arrested five of his top lieutenants in Iraq. And last month one of his key intelligence colonels defected.
Furious Safavi — an ally of hardline President Mahmood Ahmadinejad — is keeping the hostages at a Guards barracks in Tehran, while coordinating the propaganda broadcasts, and refusing to give anyone else access.
A Whitehall source said yesterday: “The Iranian Foreign Ministry is unable to answer any of our ambassador’s questions about the captives because they simply don’t know themselves. It shows who’s running the show.”
I believe there were hints early on in the hostage crisis that Iran wanted to exchange the British sailors and marines for the Iranian intelligence officers who were captured in Iraq. If so, that would be consistent with the Sun’s information.
UPDATE: From today’s Telegraph>
US officials today ruled out a deal to exchange the 15 sailors for five Iranians held by US forces in Iraq.
Reports that such a swap could be the key to ending the hostages’ ordeal were wrong, said US State department spokesman Sean McCormack. The five in the abortive swap were believed to be members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard seized in Irbil, Iraq, in January.
March 31st, 2007 at 3:44 pmAlso found this.
LONDON: Most Britons oppose immediate military action to free 15 navy personnel detained in Iran, and believe the government will resolve the crisis peacefully, a poll released Saturday suggests.
Only 7 percent of respondents to the survey for the Sunday Telegraph newspaper said Britain should prepare to use military force at this stage, nine days into the crisis. Asked if force should be used as a last resort, 48 percent were opposed and 44 percent in favor.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/31/europe/EU-GEN-Britain-Iran-Poll.php
March 31st, 2007 at 4:33 pmThe poll must have been conducted by CNN.
March 31st, 2007 at 4:43 pm“The poll must have been conducted by CNN.”
I don’t think so. Had CNN done the poll, I’m sure the end result would have looked much worse.
March 31st, 2007 at 4:47 pmBush has finally made his first public comment about the Brit hostages. I hope he does more then huff & puff.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,263041,00.html
March 31st, 2007 at 5:16 pmI hope Ahmadinejad visits Turkey
April 1st, 2007 at 1:14 amIs that a recent photo of mahmoud with the pistol?
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:34 pm