The sailors and marines, from the 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 when Iranian gunboats surrounded the sailors and arrested them at gunpoint.
Footage of all 15 British sailors and marines have been broadcast on Iranian TV, with one of the sailors, Faye Turney, 26, saying that the soldiers were in Iranian waters at the time of their detainment, a move in which Britain calls "completely unacceptable.
On Tuesday Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair said in a televised interview that if the 15 sailors and marines who were arrested by Iranian forces are not released then Britain will be forced to "move into a different phase" of operations, and that Iran has only days to release all 15 sailors and marines.

