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US offered UK to ‘scare’ Iran

LONDON: The United States offered to mount aggressive air patrols over Revolutionary Guards bases during Iran’s standoff with Britain, but was rebuffed by London, The Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.

Citing unnamed diplomatic sources, the daily said that Pentagon officials offered a series of military options, but Britain told them to keep out of the affair and instead tone down armed forces activity in the Gulf.

One of the options involved combat aircraft patrolling over Iranian bases to show how serious the incident was, the newspaper said in a front-page story.

On March 20, three days before the 15 British marines were seized by Iran, a second US aircraft carrier group arrived in the region.

At London’s request, the two carrier groups, totalling 40 ships plus aircraft, changed their exercises to make them appear less confrontational, the newspaper said.

Britain also asked the United States to ensure it kept the rhetoric low-key, The Guardian said. It reported that a consensus was emerging among British, Iraqi and Iranian officials as to what happened when the Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines were seized — namely that it was not something planned by Tehran.

London maintains they were mounting a routine anti-smuggling patrol in Iraqi waters, while Tehran insists they trespassed into Iranian waters.

“My best guess is that this was a local incident which became an international incident,” a British source closely involved in the standoff told the newspaper.

A senior Iranian source close to the Revolutionary Guards told The Guardian: “If this had been between Iranian and American soldiers it could have been the beginning of an accidental war.”

The source claimed that British forces had illegally entered Iranian waters three times in three months leading up to the capture, which was decided upon by a regional commander. afp

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