WASHINGTON, April 5 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a review of Navy procedures in the Persian Gulf to prevent another hostage situation.
"We have asked for the chairman, through the commander of the Central
Command and others, to examine our procedures and make sure that,
first of all, that we're playing well within the baselines, just like
the British were, and that our sailors are properly protected against
any similar kind of activity," Gates told Pentagon reporters Thursday.
Iran took 15 British sailors and Marines prisoner 13 days ago after they boarded a ship to inspect its papers and cargo, part of a coalition maritime security operation meant to interdict smugglers.
Gates said the United States has no plans to release five Iranians it took prisoner inside Iraq, who the U.S. military says are members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
"I think there's no inclination right now to let them go," Gates said.
The Iranian government has not yet been granted access to the prisoners.
"Iraqi government officials and U.S. officials are discussing if there's some way, perhaps, that there could be some kind of Iranian access to them," he said.
The prisoners have been visited by the Red Cross.
There are three primary combined task forces in the Persian Gulf: CTF-150, operating in the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, Red Sea and the Indian Ocean; CTF 152 operating in the South and Central Arabian Gulf; and CTF-158 operating in the North Arabian Gulf.
