Newly released Ministry of Defence documents state that: — The arrests took place in waters that are not internationally agreed as Iraqi; — The coalition unilaterally designated a dividing line between Iraqi and Iranian waters in the Gulf without telling Iran where it was; — The Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ coastal protection vessels were crossing this invisible line at a rate of three times a week; It was the British who apparently raised their weapons first before the Iranian gunboats came alongside; — The cornered British, surrounded by heavily armed Iranians, made a hopeless last-minute radio plea for a helicopter to come back and provide air cover. Iran always claimed that it had arrested the Britons for violating its territorial integrity. Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, repeatedly told the Commons that the personnel were seized in Iraqi waters.