Monday 23 July 2007

MPs criticise map used in Iran crisis

So they were in Iranian waters after all. This government seems to like trying to tell us that rain is dry, black is white and the government of this country is a paragon of virtue and honesty!

A British map of the northern Gulf where Iran seized 15 naval personnel in March was not as accurate as it should have been and Britain was fortunate Iran did not contest it, a review into the crisis said on Sunday.

The parliamentary report also said the Foreign Office should name the person who let two sailors sell their stories to the media, a decision widely criticised for handing a propaganda coup to Britain's enemies and embarrassing serving troops.

The report by the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) said the Foreign Office's overall approach could not be faulted, but it said efforts should have been made to contact key Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani sooner.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards seized 15 British personnel in the northern Gulf in March sparking a 13-day standoff that ended when Iran's president freed them, a day after Larijani spoke to a senior adviser to then Prime Minister Tony Blair.

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