Iran Will Charge British Soldiers

The Iranian navy arrested the eight British soldiers when their three patrol boats ventured into Iranian waters in the Shatt al-Arab waterway. El-Alem television broadcast video of the soldiers and declared that the British soldiers would be charged with the crime of trespassing. According to El-Alem, the soldiers reportedly admitted to trespassing in Iranian waters.

British Foreign Minister, Jack Straw, yesterday told Iran Foreign Minister, Kemal Kharrazi, that the British patrol boats had entered the Iran territorial waters by mistake and Straw therefore requested that the soldiers be released.