Iranian officials said the boats entered their country's part of the Shatt-al-Arab waterway that divides Iran and Iraq and which has long been a source of tension between both Gulf neighbors.

伊朗官方称，船已进入他们国家做为伊朗与伊拉克分界线的阿拉伯河航道，这一地区长期以来一直是两个海湾邻国间的紧张来源。

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In a land of hardship and resignation and deep faith, the disaster along the Shatt al Arab appears to some as the work of a higher power.

在这片困苦、屈从、又有着深刻信仰的土地上，阿拉伯河沿岸的灾难似乎是更高深的力量在左右。

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The Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel were taken after they had boarded a dhow during a routine patrol in the Shatt al-Arab waterway at 10am local time.

当地时间上午10点，英国皇家海军和皇家陆战队队员在对沙特阿拉伯水域的一只渔船例行检查时被伊朗海军带走了。

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In 1980, he sensed that Iran was weak and attacked across the Shatt al-Arab waterway.

BBC: Saddam Hussein: US target

In 2004, eight British servicemen were held in Iran after being seized in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where they were training the Iraqi river patrol service.

BBC: Iranian navy detains five Britons on yacht in Gulf

Iraqis complain that, were it not for sanctions, foreign ships would be overflowing from cramped Umm Qasr to the port of Basra, 80 kilometres up the Shatt al-Arab waterway from the Gulf.

ECONOMIST: The Gulf