The British servicemen were seized while training Iraqi river patrol personnel after Iran said they had strayed to the Iranian side of the waterway.

Their equipment was not returned and a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) was put on display in a museum in Tehran.

During their detention, according to former detainee Marine Scott Fallon, they endured a mock execution in which they were marched into the desert and made to stand blindfolded in front of a ditch while their captors cocked their weapons.

[5][6][7] The Royal Navy boats were operating close to the northern coast of the Persian Gulf in the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway which divides southern Iran and Iraq.

The weather was bad causing negligible visibility which may have contributed to a potential crossing of the Iranian border by the Royal Navy.