Australian navy repelled Iranian gunboats in 2004

CANBERRA, June 22 (Reuters) Australian navy sailors used ''colourful language'' and aggressive tactics to repel five Iranian gunboats in an incident prior to the capture of 15 British sailors in March, Australian defence officials said today.

Five Iranian Revolutionary Guard gunboats surrounded an Australian boarding party in the Gulf during a routine stop-and-search of the cargo boat MV Sham in December 2004.

''Colourful language was the word. As Australians we might well imagine what (language) was there, but the important thing to note was that it worked,'' Royal Australian Navy Commodore Steve Gilmore told reporters.

The Australians were boarding the vessel from the missile frigate HMAS Adelaide, on patrol with US-led coalition forces after the Iraq war, when the incident occurred.

The Australian commander ordered his sailors back onto the cargo vessel and into defensive weapons positions in a four-hour confrontation from which the Iranians eventually backed away. No shots were fired, Gilmore said.

British media reports have questioned why lessons were not learned from the Australian incident.

Gilmore, who commanded Coalition naval forces in the Gulf after the clash, said it was impossible to say if the British sailors could have deterred their Iranian captors by taking a similar aggressive stance to the Australians.

''It's very difficult to predict the (British) outcome should have been the same as the Australian outcome because it wasn't the same circumstances,'' he said.

It was unclear if the Iranians, armed with rocket-propelled grenades, had even been attempting to capture the Australians.

''It was certainly quite overt and they were attempting to establish what the Australians were doing, there's no doubt about that,'' he said. Two Australian sailors were awarded medals after the encounter.

The British sailors captured in March were accused of straying into Iranian waters and paraded on television before eventually being released amid diplomatic protests.

Australia, a close US ally and original member of the American-led coalition, currently has around 1,500 troops in and around Iraq.

REUTERS KK VC1018