Britons Kidnapped in Iraq, Held by Iran
Two separate sources in the Middle East and London told The Times, the five Britons who were kidnapped in Iraq last year, are held by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard… in Iran. ‘The hostages were handed over to the Revolutionary Guards by their Iraqi kidnappers last November, the sources believe. One of the sources said they were being held in the western Iranian city of Hamadan.’
If confirmed, the involvement of Revolutionary Guards would be seen as evidence that senior figures in the Iranian government had backed the decision to hold them in the country.
However, British officials said that while there had been rumours that the five were in Iran, they had seen no evidence to support the idea.
The hostages are said to be in good physical shape but spending much of their time in solitary confinement.
According to one of the sources, they are under the control of Mohammad Safaei, 41, a senior Revolutionary Guard colonel who was previously in charge of special operations in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
The hostages were kidnapped in Baghdad last May in an attempt to force the Americans to release Qais al-Khazaali, an Iraqi militia leader said to be close to the Revolutionary Guards.
Khazaali was apparently being groomed by Iran to take control of a breakaway faction of the Mahdi Army, a Shi’ite militia, that would be compliant with Tehran. A former chief spokesman for the Mahdi Army, Khazaali was arrested by US troops after masterminding a raid inside a base in which five US soldiers were killed. The Americans have refused to release al-Khazaali in exchange for the British hostages.
One of the sources, who has close links to the Revolutionary Guard, said the captors were looking for a face-saving way of freeing them. They have suggested the hostages write to church leaders in the UK asking for assistance in gaining their release, the source said.
Obviously, one needs more information, especially the countries involved have to find out where the five truly are, but if they’re being held by Iran - and I think it’s pretty safe to assume they probably are - this constitutes yet another act of war by the Mullahs against a Western country. It’s utterly amazing that we let the Mullahs get away with this crap. NATO could destroy the country within the blink of an eye. Yet, we all choose to let the Iranians do whatever it is they want to do to us.
Where’s the (real) Iron Lady when you need her? You think she would have accepted this BS from the Mullahs? Me thinks not.
The only reason, by the way, that the Iranians are doing is, is that they know that they can get away with it. After all, if Britain didn’t fight back when its sailors were kidnapped by the Revolutionary Guard, the Monarchy will never fight.
LOL!
The author of that Times report is Uzi Mahnaimi, author of more crappy anti-Iran stories than even Amir Taheri, as PJM’s Yourish has noted often enough. He’s also author of the North Korean "Thunderbirds" airbase story in the same paper today.
Oh, and the UK government has admitted the Brit seamen were in disputed waters that the US and UK say were outside Iranian territory but had neglected to inform the Iranians of the borderline they were applying. That’s not kidnapping. When Iran invades the Falkland Islands, then we Brits will need someone to do an Iron Lady.
Regards, C