Friday Jun 22 13:01 AEST
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) 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 Guard 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.
"(They) began what I think is very unique in the Australian way and
that's the capacity to negotiate, to introduce extra weighpoints if
you like, in the continuum of force," he said.
Another four Iranian military boats carrying rocket-propelled
grenade launchers arrived to reinforce their colleagues in the next
45 minutes, Commodore Gilmore said.
"Over a tense period of four hours the boarding party was
eventually successfully extracted by helicopter back to the (HMAS)
Adelaide.
The Australians had originally boarded the MV Sham from two
inflatable boats launched from the HMAS Adelaide while a Seahawk
helicopter carried out surveillance.
No shots were fired during the encounter.
"We were able to keep that as the case by the very deliberate,
well-considered and well-executed negotiation process that the
Australian boarding officer undertook.
"The determined approach, the no-nonsense approach of the
Australian boarding party, was able to effectively manage that
situation."
The Australians' handling of the stand-off is being compared to
that of British sailors captured by Iranian forces in March this
year during a similar operation and accused of straying into
Iranian waters.
The Britons were paraded on Iranian television and eventually
released amid a diplomatic storm.
Commodore Gilmore said there were similarities and differences
between the two incidents.
"It's very difficult to predict the (British) outcome should have
been the same as the Australian outcome because it wasn't the same
circumstances."
Commodore Gilmore said the intentions of the Iranians had not been
clear.
"It was certainly quite overt and they were attempting to establish
what the Australians were doing, there's no doubt about
that."
A BBC reporter, quoting sources, said the Australian sailors used
colourful language to help hold off the Iranians.
Commodore Gilmore said: "As Australians I think we all know our
capacity to engage, to defuse by discussion and they indeed did
that.
"We might imagine what (language) was there - I haven't delved into
that.
"The important thing to note is that it worked."
The commodore, who commanded the joint task maritime task force in
the Gulf shortly after the incident, said the Australian sailors
had handled themselves superbly.
"Those values that I think were displayed really do highlight what
is unique about the Australian soldier - the courage that was shown
in demanding circumstance, the loyalty, the teamwork were there
throughout."
Two members of the team were awarded the Distinguished Service
Medal for their conduct during the incident.
Commodore Gilmore said it was not reported at the time because
while unique in some ways it was representative of operations in
the Gulf at the time.
"From an operation circumstance I don't believe there was any
recognition there was a need to highlight that particular
activity."
ninemsn
