Summary
In this Report,
‘The
Iran Hostages Incident: The Lessons Learned’ (HC 181), the House of Commons
Defence Committee reviews the Fulton Report into the capture of Royal Navy
personnel by Iranian Revolutionary Guard in March 2007.
On 23
March 2007, 15 Royal Navy personnel from HMS Cornwall were captured by the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard while conducting a boarding operation on a merchant
vessel in shallow waters near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway between
Iraq and Iran. They were taken to Iran, paraded before the international media,
and detained until their release on 5 April. On their return to the UK, the
Royal Navy staged a press conference for some of the detainees: two of them
subsequently sold their stories to the media.
Lt General Sir Rob Fulton
was appointed to inquire into the operational circumstances and factors leading
to the capture of the Royal Navy personnel. His report was confidential and not
published but the Defence Committee was allowed to see it to ensure
Parliamentary scrutiny.
The Committee reports that Fulton robustly
identified serious weaknesses in intelligence, communications, doctrine, and
training. Whilst there were insufficient grounds for court martial, formal
administrative action has been taken against a number of Service personnel. The
Government has made good progress towards implementing Fulton's
recommendations.
The Committee also considered the findings of the Hall
Report (Available to download - 126.2 KB) into
media access to Service personnel. The decision to allow the Service personnel
to sell their stories was a serious mistake and deeply damaging to the
reputation of the Royal Navy. The Secretary of State for Defence has accepted
responsibility for this and apologised but this should not absolve others from
blame.
Found this story interesting?
Spread the news by
clicking below to add it to your bookmarking service: