Fifteen British Royal Navy personnel have been captured by Iranian authorities at gunpoint in the Persian Gulf off the Iraqi coast, according to the British Ministry of Defence.
After comments from the UK government, Iran gave a revised position for the incident, and the new position provided by the Iranians was outside Iraqi waters and within Iranian territorial waters.
The Iranian government then stated that it was not the first time that British ships had entered Iranian waters.
The sailors and marines, from the Type 22 frigate HMS Cornwall, had been inspecting, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1723, a ship that was believed to be smuggling cars into Iraq, though it was subsequently cleared after inspection.
The United Kingdom has frozen all bilateral business deals with Iran until all 15 British sailors and marines, who were detained by Iranian forces on March 23 are released.
The fifteen British navy personnel detained by Iran landed at just gone 12:00 noon BST at Heathrow International Airport, following their release after thirteen days of captivity.
At a press conference held Friday at the Royal Marine Base Chivenor in Devon, first-hand details of the fifteen UK Royal Navy crew's capture and detention by Iran were revealed.
Carman and Air thanked the staff of the British Embassy in Tehran, the Foreign Office, and Ministry of Defence for securing their release.
