Britain is demanding the "immediate and safe return" of 15 British navy personnel seized by Iranian forces, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Friday.

"On the instructions of the Foreign Secretary, the Iranian ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office," the MoD said in a statement, adding that Britain is urgently pursuing this matter with the Iranian authorities at the highest level.

Iranian naval vessels detained 15 British soldiers at approximately 10:30 a.m. Iraqi time (0730 GMT) on Friday, when they were engaged in routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial waters, in support of UN Security Council Resolution 1723 and the Iraqi government, the MoD said.

"The UK boarding party had completed a successful inspection of a merchant ship when they and their two boats were surrounded and escorted by Iranian vessels into Iranian territorial waters," said the MoD.

Sky News said the captives, from the Type 22 frigate HMS Cornwall, were seized in the Shatt Al Arab waterway. The British Royal Navy insisted that they were operating in Iraqi waters and not Iranian territorial waters.

It is reported that the operation was part of a crackdown on smugglers.

"I have got 15 sailors and Marines who have been arrested by the Iranians," Commodore Nick Lambert, the commanding officer of HMS Cornwall, told Sky News.

According to the BBC, this is not the first time that British troops have been seized by Iranian forces in the troubled waters between Iran and Iraq. In 2004, Iran detained eight British servicemen for three days after they allegedly strayed over the maritime border.

Source: Xinhua