http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-31477,00.html
How Aussies beat capture
Patrick Walters, National security editor
June 23, 2007
FAST thinking by a small group of Australian sailors allowed them to evade probable capture by Iranian revolutionary guards, the Defence Department revealed yesterday.
The previous undisclosed encounter with Iranian gunboats in the Persian Gulf in December 2004 came after the Royal Australian Navy sailors made a routine search of a grounded cargo ship.
Navy Commodore Steve Gilmore yesterday said the four-hour drama began as the sailors were reboarding their boats to return to HMAS Adelaide.
An Iranian gunboat approached and its heavily armed personnel made "very overt gestures" to the Australians, Commodore Gilmore, a former coalition taskforce commander in the Gulf, revealed.
The Australian commander quickly ordered his men to return to the small cargo ship, MV Shams, where they took defensive positions.
"He got his boarding party back on to the ship and established a very credible and appropriate defensive position," Commodore Gilmore said.
The Iranian threat increased when another four speedboats with rocket-propelled grenade launchers arrived.
"(They) began what I think is very unique in the Australian way and that's the capacity to negotiate, to introduce extra waypoints if you like, in the continuum of force," he said.
"Over a tense period of four hours, the boarding party was eventually successfully extracted by helicopter back to the Adelaide."
Details of the standoff were revealed on Thursday by BBC reporter Frank Gardner, who said the Australians had pointed their guns at the Iranians and used "colourful language" to dissuade any attempt at taking hostages.
Commodore Gilmore confirmed basic details of the incident and emphasised the calm professionalism of the young RAN sailors.
"We were able to keep that as the case by the very deliberate, well-considered and well-executed negotiation process that the Australian boarding officer undertook," he said.
"The determined approach, the no-nonsense approach of the Australian boarding party, was able to effectively manage that situation. Those values that I think were displayed really do highlight what is unique about the Australian soldier -- the courage that was shown in demanding circumstance, the loyalty, the teamwork were there throughout."
Two members of the team were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for their conduct.
The Australians' handling of the incident close to the Iranian border sparked comparisons with the ordeal suffered by British sailors captured by Iranians in March during a similar patrol.
Accused of straying into Iranian waters by their captors, the Royal Navy sailors provoked a tense diplomatic standoff between Iran and Britain before they were eventually released.
Commodore Gilmore told reporters yesterday there were similarities and differences between the two incidents.
Additional reporting: Agencies
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