Friday, April 06, 2007

Britain suspends Persian Gulf operations `pending a review'

Even as Britain's Royal Navy head was defending the actions of the 15 sailors seized by Iran in the Gulf, the Royal Navy has suspended all ship boarding operations in the Persian Gulf.

First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band said that although the British boarding operations had been "absolutely proper" that there would be a `review' of the circumstances.

"For the moment we have stopped U.K. boarding operations," Band told BBC radio, according to CNN news reports Friday. "We will obviously do a complete review."

Meanwhile, this will prevent Britain from carrying out its mission of securing the sea lanes, particularly in South Iraq, with the US Navy having to pick up the slack to prevent men and arms from being smuggled into Iraq.

As I wrote previously, this is a major victory for Iran in, among other things, helping to split the alliance of the West.

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