Iran kidnap bid on Aussies
THE Australian Defence Force says up to five Iranian gunboats tried to capture Australian sailors in the Persian Gulf in December 2004.
A defence spokesman told reporters the four-hour confrontation occurred after Australian navy personnel boarded a grounded cargo ship in the gulf.
Commodore Steve Gilmore said the incident began when Australian soldiers were leaving the cargo vessel, which was located near the Iraq-Iran maritime border.
He said an Iranian revolutionary gunboat moved close by and its armed personnel made ``very overt gestures''.
The boarding party commander ordered the Australians to reboard the cargo ship.
"He got his boarding party back on to the ship and established a very credible and appropriate defensive position,'' Commodore Gilmore told reporters in Canberra.
His comments follow an earlier BBC reporter's story that claimed an Australian Navy boarding crew in the Gulf of Persia repelled an Iranian gunboat that threatened them a matter of weeks before 15 British sailors were captured in a similar incident.
The capture of the British crew in March developed into a major diplomatic incident before their release was negotiated.
But BBC reporter Frank Gardner, a security specialist, reported the Australians had pointed their guns at the Iranians and used "colourful language'' before the gunboat withdrew.
"What I've been told by several sources, military sources, (is that) there was a similar encounter, in this case between the Royal Australian Navy and Iranian gunboats, some months ago, or at least some months prior to the seizing of the British sailors,'' Gardner told ABC radio.
"The Australians escaped capture by climbing back on board the ship they'd just searched. I'm told that they set up their weapons."
"No shots were exchanged but the Iranians backed off and the Australians were able to get helicoptered off that ship and they didn't get captured.''
He did not mention the name of the Australian ship. Australians ships rotate through duties in the Gulf, chiefly searching ships.
"What I'm hearing is that it was a pretty robust attitude by the Australians,'' Gardner said.
"The words that somebody said to me was that they used pretty colourful language but I'm sure that alone didn't make the Iranians back off.
"They reacted, I'm told, incredibly quickly, whereas the Brits were caught at their most vulnerable moment climbing down off the ship (and) getting into their boats.''
Gardner said the British should be embarrassed about the incident but the issue was whether military intelligence had been passed on.
"The point of this story is not that the Aussies were fantastically brave and the Brits were a bunch of cowards, although I'm sure some people will interpret (it that way),'' he said.
"Lessons should have been drawn from what happened to the Australian crew.''
He said he had not been able to find out whether the information on the Australian incident had been passed on to the British.
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