[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 55 (Thursday, March 29, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S4223]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONDEMNING THE SEIZURE OF 15 BRITISH NAVAL PERSONNEL BY IRAN

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 136.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 136) expressing the sense of the 
     Senate condemning the seizure by the government of Iran of 15 
     British naval personnel in Iraqi territorial waters, and 
     calling for their immediate safe and unconditional release.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution 
be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider 
be laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 136) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 136

       Whereas, on March 23, 2007, a naval vessel of the United 
     Kingdom, the HMS Cornwall, was conducting routine operations 
     in Iraqi territorial waters pursuant to United Nations 
     Security Council Resolution 1723 (2006) and in support of the 
     Government of Iraq;
       Whereas, on March 23, 2007, a boarding team consisting of 7 
     Royal Marines and 8 sailors embarked in 2 of the boats of the 
     HMS Cornwall to conduct a routine boarding of an Indian 
     flagged merchant vessel pursuant to the authorization of 
     United Nations Security Council Resolution 1723 (2006);
       Whereas, as Vice Admiral Charles Style, Deputy Chief of the 
     British Defense Staff (Commitments), demonstrated in a 
     presentation on March 28, 2007, ``the merchant vessel was 7.5 
     nautical miles south east of the Al Faw Peninsula, . . . 29 
     degrees 50.36 minutes North 048 degrees 43.08 minutes East. 
     This places her 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi territorial 
     waters. This fact has been confirmed by the Iraqi Foreign 
     Ministry.'';
       Whereas at some point shortly after completion of the 
     successful inspection of the merchant ship, the two United 
     Kingdom vessels were surrounded and escorted by Iranian 
     Islamic Republican Guard Navy vessels toward the Shatt `Al 
     Arab Waterway and into Iranian territorial waters;
       Whereas, as Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary of the 
     United Kingdom, stated to the House of Commons on March 28, 
     2007, even the coordinates of the seizure event that were 
     given by Iran's Ambassador to the United Kingdom at the 
     Ambassador's first meeting with United Kingdom officials were 
     themselves in Iraqi waters;
       Whereas Foreign Secretary Beckett noted in that same 
     statement that authorities of the Government of Iran provided 
     ``corrected'' coordinates of the incident on March 25, 2007, 
     claiming that the event took place in Iranian waters;
       Whereas the merchant vessel that was boarded had remained 
     anchored since the time it was boarded, and on March 25, 
     2007, its location was verified to be in Iraqi waters;
       Whereas Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair 
     stated on March 25, 2007, that ``there is no doubt at all 
     that these people were taken from a boat in Iraqi waters. It 
     is simply not true that they went into Iranian territorial 
     waters.''; and
       Whereas the Government of Iran has yet to release the 15 
     British sailors it has been holding captive since seizing the 
     sailors from Iraqi waters on March 23, 2007: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) condemns in the strongest possible terms the seizure by 
     the Government of Iran of 15 British naval personnel from 
     Iraqi territorial waters as a provocative and illegal act; 
     and
       (2) calls for the immediate, safe, and unconditional 
     release of the personnel from captivity.

                          ____________________