Madam, - It is with some trepidation that we should view the news reports regarding Iran's detention of British navy personnel.
There are obvious problems with the official British statement that its patrol boat was within Iraqi waters. Firstly, the co-ordinates given for the seized patrol boat (and for the HMS Cornwall) are closer to Iranian than to Iraqi land.
Secondly, there is no agreed bilateral boundary in the Gulf, and the published boundary is fictitious. Further, it must be wondered why, when British forces are involved in the bloody occupation of Iraq, British patrol boats are, according to the official story, inspecting shipping for smuggled cars.
The detained sailors and marines should be released, of course, but Iran must be forgiven for attempting to protect its territorial integrity, particularly when it is being threatened by the present US administration for pursuing a civilian nuclear programme - as it is entitled to do under the terms of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty of which it is a signatory.
The great concern is that the incident is being played up in order to provide a pretext for military aggression against Iran. Is Western public opinion being softened up for war, just as it was with false reports before the disastrous invasion of Iraq? - Yours, etc,
GERRY MOLLOY, Collins Avenue, Dublin 9.