Iran has captured “up to seven British or American military personnel,” according to an Iraqi fisherman in the Persian Gulf.
The fisherman, who asked not be named, said six or seven foreign military personnel were on two small boats that stopped to check Iranian ships in the Siban area of the [Shatt al-Arab] waterway, near the al-Faw peninsula that leads into the northern Gulf.
When they boarded one ship, at least two Iranian vessels appeared on the scene and the military personnel were detained. There was no sign of any violent confrontation he said.
The report was later confirmed, with a larger number of British sailors reported:
Iranian forces seized 15 British Royal Navy personnel who had searched a merchant ship on Friday, the Ministry of Defence said, triggering a diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.