>>>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17752685/
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>>This I don't get. If the matelots were boarding a merchant vessel, that suggests they set off from their own ship (I know we have naval cuts but the RN isn't reduced to just RIBs yet!). So what was the RN frigate doing while the Iranian navy turned up?
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>They must be sending out the inflatable boats all day long from the frigate... who is then a few kms away protecting them. Perhaps the rules of engagement prevented the frigate from firing on the vessels, or it was thought that they might injure the UK soldiers. The British commander was on CNN International going on and on about being pround of his men of adhering to the rules of engagement and that he was going to congratulate them when they got back.

If this "goes south", I imagine they will revisit the "rules of engagement". Personally, I think the rules of engagement should be like the rules of engagement I operated under as a cop. We have what is known as the "use of force continuum". We are permitted to operate one level above the aggressor.