Iran says seized boats belong in museum

Reuters: Three British naval boats confiscated by Iran’s military last June must go to Iran’s war museum, rather than be returned as London has demanded, a senior military official has said. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the three boats last June and arrested eight British crewmen, accusing them
of straying into Iranian waters in the Shatt al-Arab waterway which divides southwestern Iran from Iraq. Reuters

TEHRAN – Three British naval boats confiscated by Iran’s military last June must go to Iran’s war museum, rather than be returned as London has demanded, a senior military official has said.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the three boats last June and arrested eight British crewmen, accusing them of straying into Iranian waters in the Shatt al-Arab waterway which divides southwestern Iran from Iraq.

The servicemen were handed over to British diplomats but the boats and various weapons and equipment they were carrying are still being held by Iran.

“According to the regulations, equipment which is confiscated in a military operation or dispute, must be handed over to the war museum,” Mirfaisal Baqerzadeh, a senior official from Iran’s Chief Staff of Armed Forces, told Reuters on Monday.

“The British boats are subject to this law and shall not be returned to them,” he added.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence has said the sailors were forced by Iran into its territorial waters and has demanded Tehran return the boats and equipment.