Iran puts British gunboats on display
Iran will publicly display this month the three British military boats it confiscated when they strayed into its waters along the Iraq border last year.
In the incident, which sparked a diplomatic row with Britain last year, Iran detained eight British servicemen and seized their three boats in the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
The diplomatic stand-off subsided when Iran released the servicemen after four days.
The display of the vessels will form part of the government’s celebrations for Iran’s New Year holiday season, which runs from March 21 to April 2, state radio said.
The impounded equipment includes three boats, guns, marine charts, global positioning systems and echo sounders.
The eight British servicemen were delivering a boat for the new Iraqi river patrol service when the Iranian forces detained them. The waterway runs along the Iran-Iraq border and has long been a source of disputes between the neighbouring countries.
Britain, along with France and Germany, is currently negotiating with Tehran to abandon its nuclear enrichment programme. Iran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful energy purposes and not geared toward making bombs.
