Comment: Isn't it awful that these dirty Iranians would dare take hostage of our imperious Marines, even if they invaded Iranian territory? I mean, kidnapping representatives of foreign nations for political purposes is something the UK or US would never resort to, is it?

FLASHBACK: Iran condemns US 'kidnap' in Iraq

Never mind that! When we do it, it's with good reason, when they do it, it's because they're evil!

-------------------------------------------------

Iran said on Friday that the 15 British sailors it detained in the Persian Gulf had entered Iranian territorial waters illegally and summoned the top British diplomat here to protest, Iranian state television reported.

"This is not the first time that British military personnel during the occupation of Iraq have entered illegally into Iran's territorial waters," the state TV quoted a foreign ministry official as saying. He was not identified by name.

The official described the incident as an "open incursion" and "illegal entry" into Iranian waters.

Earlier, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador, Rasoul Movahedian, to the Foreign Office for a meeting which a department spokesman described as "brisk but cordial."

During the meeting, Sir Peter Ricketts, the senior civil servant in the department, demanded "the safe return of our personnel and equipment," the spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity under department rules.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett demanded Teheran fully explain the detention, saying in a statement after Movahedian's summons that he "was left in no doubt that we want them back."

Iran later claimed that the British soldiers and marines have been "detained by Iran's border authorities for further investigation ... of the blatant aggression into Iranian territorial waters," the official also said.

Iran demanded an immediate explanation from London and "asked that this not happen again," the television said.

The foreign ministry conveyed Iran's "strong protest" to the diplomat, who was said to be the British charge d'affaires in the absence of a London ambassador to Teheran. The diplomat was also asked to "provide answer as soon as possible" from London.

The 15 British sailors and marines were taken at gunpoint early Friday by forces of the Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards in the Iraqi waters of the Persian Gulf, US and British officials said. The incident came during heightened tensions between the West and Iran.

Iran said the British were at the time of the seizure in the waters of Arvand Drud, which in Farsi means Arvand River. It is the Iranian name for the long-disputed waters just outside of the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that divides Iraq from Iran.

A 1975 treaty recognized the middle of the waterway as the border. Saddam Hussein canceled the treaty five years later and invaded Iran, triggering an eight-year war. Iran disputes Iraq's jurisdiction over the waters near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab and claims they are Iranian.