Open Mouth, Insert Foot

The eight British servicemen seized by Iran last week were “forcibly escorted into Iranian territorial waters” before they were detained, the Ministry of Defence said today.

The six Royal Marines and two Royal Navy sailors were captured after their patrol boats were said to have strayed by mistake into the Iranian side of the Shatt al Arab waterway - sparking a tense three-day stand-off.

It was thought the men had accidentally entered Iranian waters on their way to Basra to deliver one of the patrol boats to the new Iraqi Riverine Patrol Service.

But in a written statement Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said: “In a recent debriefing the crews have said that they were operating inside the Iraqi border and were forcibly escorted into Iranian territorial waters.

When this first happened I states that I thought the leaders of Iran were “attempting to make the people of Iran believe they have a stonger foothold in the policies of the region than they do, than they ever have.”

After reading this, I honestly think they did not have grabbing a foothold in mind at all. In fact, I think they were just trying their feet on for size. You know, making sure their feet fit in each others mouths.