Regarding gasoline and matches...

A conflagration in the making?

LONDON (AP) -- Iranian naval vessels seized 15 British sailors who had boarded a ship suspected of smuggling cars in the Persian Gulf off the Iraqi coast on Friday, officials said.

The British government demanded "the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment."

The British Navy personnel were "engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters," and had completed a ship inspection when they were accosted by Iranian vessels, Britain's Defense Ministry said.

"We are urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level and ... the Iranian ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office," the ministry said.

The seizure comes at a time of rising tensions between Iran and the West, which accuses the Islamic republic of violating a U.N. calls for it to halt uranium enrichment and open its nuclear program for inspection. It also comes amid U.S. accusations that Iran is funding and arming Shiite militias in Iraq, worsening sectarian tensions there.

This could very well turn into a standoff, the magnitude of gravity which may indeed rival that of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, with the outcome being every bit as important.

It is my hope that the Brits (and us) have the fortitude of JFK in dealing with this.

We cannot well afford to stand down on this one.

***UPDATE****

It looks like it may turn out to be a replay of the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979-81.

Iran better know this:

They're not dealing with Jimmy Carter anymore.

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