Officials in the United Kingdom have identified the members of the racing yacht crew that were captured by Iran on November 25, 2009. Iran is holding the British crew and yacht. The crew members are identified as Olly Smith, Sam Usher, Luke Porter, Oliver Young and Dave Bloomer. The yacht is owned by Sail Bahrain and is named the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The British racing yacht crew were detained by the Iranian Navy when it is alleged that they strayed into Iranian waters while on its way from Bahrain to Dubai. They are said to have been traveling to the starting point for the Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race. The 360-nautical mile race started from Dubai on November 26, the day after the yacht crew were taken hostage by the Iranian Navy.

It is thought they were approached and captured by an Iranian gunboat. The crew and yacht were part of the Sail Bahrain project that began this month. The purpose of the yacht racing from Bahrain to Dubai is to bring international sailing and water sports events to Bahrain and to develop a top-class water sports academy.

Unfortunately, the tensions between Iran and Britain are getting in the way of the good will of the yacht racing crew and their efforts.

This is eerily similar to another incident in which the Iranian Navy captured 15 British Sailors and Royal Marines and took them to Tehran in 2007. In another incident, Iran took captive six Royal Marines and two Royal Navy sailors in June 2004.

The British Ambassador in Tehran and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband are said to be negotiating with the Iranian Foreign Ministry for the release of the British citizens.

These incidents between Iran and Britain are only serving to escalate the tensions between the two countries. Iran has accused Britain of fueling last summer’s protests against the Iranian government and the United Kingdom has continued to pressure Iran to freeze it’s nuclear program.

The racing yacht crew is different than other hostages taken by the Iranians. They are not military and Iran has not paraded them in front of cameras as they have in similar incidents. Hopefully, the situation will be resolved quickly. Unfortunately, Iran has become increasingly defiant of the rest of the world and shown no interest in cooperating. If anything, they seem to continually be tweaking the tail of the world and daring Western governments to do something about there nuclear ambitions. I hope the fact that Iran is holding this British crew and yacht will not be used as yet another international incident by the Theocracy that is currently in control of Iran.