HAMMERFEST, Norway - Barren and uninhabited, Hans Island is very hard to find on a map. Yet these days the Frisbee-shaped rock in the Arctic is much in demand — so much so that Canada and Denmark have both staked their claim to it with flags and warships.

A wild wind blows. Not strong but biting and mean, cold..The sky, a light grey-blue. Not yet dark, or too bright.Fifteen British sailors and Royal Marines were today seized at gunpoint by Iranian warships off Iraq, prompting a major diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened between Tehran and the West.The Ministry of Defence said the 15 were in Iraqi territorial waters conducting a routine inspection of a cargo ship from the HMS Cornwall in the northern Gulf when they were surrounded by Iranian vessels and escorted to waters controlled by Iran.The British reaction was swift, with Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, summoning Iran’s ambassador in London, Rasoul Movahedian. Mr Movahedian spent about 20 minutes at the FCO, in what was described as a “brisk but cordial” meeting where Government demands for the safe and immediate release of the personnel were reiterated.In the US, Sean McCormack, State Department spokesman, said that Washington backed the demand. The commanding officer of the ship - which arrived in the Gulf ten days ago to defend Iraq’s oil industry in the area – said that contact had been lost with the group after they had carried out the search of the cargo boat.Commodore Nick Lambert said his staff were all believed to be safe and he hoped the incident was the result of a “misunderstanding” that had occurred in waters whose ownership was a highly contentious matter.“There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they were in Iraqi territorial waters. Equally, the Iranians may well claim that they were in Iranian territorial waters,” he said.“The extent and definition of territorial waters in this part of the world is very complicated. We may find, and I hope we will find, that this is a simple misunderstanding at a tactical level,” he added, saying that every effort was being made to secure the release of the boarding party. “We did have a helicopter in the area. Our understanding from that is that the boarding party returned to its boats which were then promptly arrested by a group of Iranian patrol boats inside Iraqi territorial waters,” he told the BBC.The MoD said the incident happened at around 10.30am local time. “The boarding party had completed a successful inspection of a merchant ship when they and their two boats were surrounded and escorted by Iranian vessels into Iranian territorial waters,” a spokesman said.“We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level. The British Government is demanding the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment.”A US official said the incident occurred just outside the much-disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway, dividing Iraq and Iran. A crucial transport route for oil supplies, the area is of high strategic importance, with British personnel regularly patrolling the Iraqi waters and boarding merchant vessels with UN permission to search them. "the righteous might"? Surely, you can see that talk and action so rash can only lead to more conflict and not resolution. I think we should consider the results of America et al's recent demonstrations of such righteous might before condemning us to even more wastage both of human and economic resources.Lets remember, that the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 was a just reprisal for a border incursion into German territory, but the perpetrators were, as we now know, Germans dressed in Polish uniforms. Nothing is as straightforward as it seems. The US and UK have been fishing for an excuse for a war with Iran for years. Get the press and public worked up and all reason disappears and the killing machine gets let lose.Sorry but its not worht the death of one person, and US and British forces should get out of where they don't belong.If the British boats were in the Iranian waters then England must appologize to Iran and that is that, but if the British boats were in the Iraqi waters and Iranian boats captured them then Iran must release all the British sailors at once and close this incident and make sure that id does not happen again.What Iran must do is not to try to intimidate the Brttish at this time,but try to show restrain even if provoked in order not to give an excuse for the American administration to steer trouble for Iran and the rest of the wrold in the gulf.Now the seizure of British marines rose the price of oil to $62.00 per barrel,it alrready had a negative effect on the world economy.Iran must also know that the Americans under Israeli orders will try to provoke the Iranians before their president comes to the U.N to present the Iranian case before the security council.The Security Council scrambled Friday to reach consensus on a draft text broadening UN sanctions against Iran as the Iranian president was granted a US visa to attend the vote expected on Saturday. The 15-member body held another bargaining round Friday over imposing punitive sanctions on Tehran for refusing to halt its sensitive nuclear fuel work. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has asked to address the Council to defend his country's right to uranium enrichment, was issued a visa Friday and was expected to attend the vote with his delegation. But ahead of the vote, the 15-member Security Council was still involved in last-minute haggling, with Indonesia and Qatar insisting on inserting a paragraph on the goal of establishing a "Middle East free from weapons of mass destruction and all missiles for their delivery" into the draft. Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya, whose country was among the six major powers which crafted the latest sanctions resolution, said efforts were continuing to accommodate South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar, three non-permanent council members still unhappy with the latest amended text. "We have to see how council members react to the text put in blue (meaning readied for an imminent vote Thursday) and see whether there are areas that can be improved to get more support," he told reporters. "I want all 15 council members on board." Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, one of the draft's co-sponsors, said Thursday the plan was to have a vote on the text Saturday. A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the text has the support of at least 12 council members. Ahmadinejad told French television Thursday that he wanted to present what he called "new proposals" about the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, which the major powers fear is a covert grab for an atomic bomb. He called the proposed UN sanctions illegal, adding he was "not worried" by the prospect of US strikes against his country over the issue. The delicate diplomatic maneuvering here was unfolding amid fears for 15 British navy sailors seized by Iran as they were conducting "routine" anti-smuggling checks in Iraqi waters Friday, according to the British Ministry of Defense. Diplomats said the incident has no bearing on the sanctions debate here, but it comes amid rising tensions between Iran and other countries. Late Thursday, the Security Council members had fine-tuned minor changes made to the text agreed last week by the five veto-wielding permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany. But South Africa expressed disappointment that its suggestions for a 90-day suspension of UN sanctions to allow political negotiations with Tehran, to remove the weapons ban and other financial sanctions were rejected. South Africa, which dismantled its nuclear weapons program during its 1990s transition to democracy, has consistently defended Iran's right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Indonesian Ambassador Rezlan Ishar Jenie also said Friday: "We are not happy with the text. There are important things that we see as not there." He said the insertion of a paragraph on the Middle East calling for a nuclear-free zone was "one important aspect I want to discuss today". His Qatari counterpart Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser said he also wanted the paragraph included. The draft resolution under consideration would ban Tehran from exporting arms, calls for voluntary trade sanctions and expands a list of officials and companies targeted for financial and travel restrictions. It builds on sanctions already adopted by the Security Council in December, including a ban on the sale of nuclear and ballistic missile-related materials to Iran and a freeze on financial assets of Iranians involved in illicit atomic and ballistic missile work. Defying UN demands, Iran has refused to suspend its uranium enrichment work and rejected accusations that it is striving to produce nuclear weapons, insisting its program is designed to generate electricity.The Security Council scrambled Friday to reach consensus on a draft text broadening UN sanctions against Iran as the Iranian president was granted a US visa to attend the vote expected on Saturday. The 15-member body held another bargaining round Friday over imposing punitive sanctions on Tehran for refusing to halt its sensitive nuclear fuel work. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has asked to address the Council to defend his country's right to uranium enrichment, was issued a visa Friday and was expected to attend the vote with his delegation. But ahead of the vote, the 15-member Security Council was still involved in last-minute haggling, with Indonesia and Qatar insisting on inserting a paragraph on the goal of establishing a "Middle East free from weapons of mass destruction and all missiles for their delivery" into the draft. Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya, whose country was among the six major powers which crafted the latest sanctions resolution, said efforts were continuing to accommodate South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar, three non-permanent council members still unhappy with the latest amended text. "We have to see how council members react to the text put in blue (meaning readied for an imminent vote Thursday) and see whether there are areas that can be improved to get more support," he told reporters. "I want all 15 council members on board." Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, one of the draft's co-sponsors, said Thursday the plan was to have a vote on the text Saturday. A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the text has the support of at least 12 council members. Ahmadinejad told French television Thursday that he wanted to present what he called "new proposals" about the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, which the major powers fear is a covert grab for an atomic bomb. He called the proposed UN sanctions illegal, adding he was "not worried" by the prospect of US strikes against his country over the issue. The delicate diplomatic maneuvering here was unfolding amid fears for 15 British navy sailors seized by Iran as they were conducting "routine" anti-smuggling checks in Iraqi waters Friday, according to the British Ministry of Defense. Diplomats said the incident has no bearing on the sanctions debate here, but it comes amid rising tensions between Iran and other countries. Late Thursday, the Security Council members had fine-tuned minor changes made to the text agreed last week by the five veto-wielding permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany. But South Africa expressed disappointment that its suggestions for a 90-day suspension of UN sanctions to allow political negotiations with Tehran, to remove the weapons ban and other financial sanctions were rejected. South Africa, which dismantled its nuclear weapons program during its 1990s transition to democracy, has consistently defended Iran's right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. Indonesian Ambassador Rezlan Ishar Jenie also said Friday: "We are not happy with the text. There are important things that we see as not there." He said the insertion of a paragraph on the Middle East calling for a nuclear-free zone was "one important aspect I want to discuss today". His Qatari counterpart Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser said he also wanted the paragraph included. The draft resolution under consideration would ban Tehran from exporting arms, calls for voluntary trade sanctions and expands a list of officials and companies targeted for financial and travel restrictions. It builds on sanctions already adopted by the Security Council in December, including a ban on the sale of nuclear and ballistic missile-related materials to Iran and a freeze on financial assets of Iranians involved in illicit atomic and ballistic missile work. Defying UN demands, Iran has refused to suspend its uranium enrichment work and rejected accusations that it is striving to produce nuclear weapons, insisting its program is designed to generate electricity.