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Iranian officials are stating that the abducted British soldiers have “confessed” to entering Iranian waters. This type of confession is part of the Islamic radical modus operandi where they take innocent people hostage and force them to fess up to all sorts of pro terror propaganda such as renouncing the invasion of Iraq, rejecting Christianinty, etc… Iran of course has used this play book before.

In this case Iran is using the alleged confessions to legitimize their abduction of British Marines at gunpoint; some of whom are reported to be women.

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) — An Iranian military official said on Saturday “confessions” and other evidence showed that British naval personnel who were detained in the Gulf had illegally entered Iranian waters.

Britain says the 15 sailors and marines were seized Friday in Iraqi waters and have demanded their immediate release.

“The investigation, and confessions that we have, shows they have been arrested in Iranian waters,” an armed forces commander told state radio, which only gave his last name Afshari.

“The investigation is going on and they are healthy and there is no problem.”

Asked about the statement, a British diplomat in Tehran said: “We still maintain they were in Iraqi waters when they were picked up.”

Earlier Saturday, Iran said the British personnel were entered Iranian waters in a “suspicious act,” the official IRNA news agency reported.

Another Iranian news agency, Fars, said they had been transferred to the capital Tehran to explain their “aggressive action,” but this could not be immediately confirmed. Fars also said the captured Britons included some women.

It is no surprise that this abduction comes on the heels of today’s United Nation vote seeking to impose further sanctions against Iran for continuing along its aggressive path toward developing nuclear weapons.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Major powers expect unanimous approval Saturday of new U.N. Security Council sanctions to pressure Iran into suspending uranium enrichment.

The new measure comes after arduous negotiations that sought unity in meting out punishment against the Islamic country for its nuclear defiance.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who earlier said he wanted to address the council when it voted on the measure, canceled a trip to New York and was sending his foreign minister instead.

The six world powers that drafted the resolution spent Friday trying to overcome objections from several council members, reflecting concerns that anything short of consensus would undermine its efforts to send a strong message to Iran.

The Security Council is voting on its second set of sanctions against Iran; the country responded to the first by expanding enrichment.

“We will be united again on this important resolution,” French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere told reporters after a closed-door Security Council meeting. “We hope that Iran will reflect on this resolution and make the right choice.”

The sanctions would ban Iranian arms exports and freeze the assets of 28 additional individuals and organizations involved in Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. About a third of those are linked to the Revolutionary Guard, an elite military corps.

These new sanctions will certainly up the ante for Ahmadinejad as Iran is already on perilous economic grounds.

Time magazine notes that the group specifically responsible for the abduction is also the same group suspected of aiding terrorists in Iraq by supplying them logistical support as well as weapons. Hmmm, maybe the Brits were onto something there.

The most ominous detail about Iran’s seizure of 15 British Royal Marines in the Shatt-al-Arab waterway on Friday morning is that the servicemen were reportedly taken into custody by the navy of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC is a powerful, separate branch of the Iranian armed forces. Soaked with nationalist ideology, it has grown into a state within a state in Iran, with its own naval, air and ground forces, parallel to official government institutions. The IRGC is directly controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, the ultimate font of religious and political power in Iran. The IRGC also has its own intelligence arm and commands irregular forces such as the basij — a voluntary paramilitary group affiliated with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — and the Quds force, which has been accused by the U.S. of supplying material to Iraqi insurgents bent on killing American soldiers. The IRGC is also known for its clandestine activities including logistical support for militant organizations like Lebanon’s Hizballah, which it helped to set up in the 1980s, and several Shi’a militia groups in Iraq. The IRGC’s activities are often a thorn in the side of Iran’s Foreign Ministry, which is forced to repair the ruptures in Tehran’s diplomatic relations with countries the Guard has inflamed with its self-directed adventures.

It will only be a matter of time before the video is released by my estimation. The only question is whether or not they will be blindfolded as in 2004.

Others: Captain’s Quarters

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