Iranians resort to James Bond plot device to start World War III
A news report on the Iranian/British Navy flap:
Vice Adm. Charles Style told reporters that the Iranians had provided a position on Sunday — a location that he said was in Iraqi waters. By Tuesday, Iranian officials had given a revised position two miles east, placing the British inside Iranian waters — a claim he said was not verified by global positioning system coordinates.
"It is hard to understand a legitimate reason for this change of coordinates," Style said.
Style gave the satellite coordinates of the British crew as 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north latitude and 048 degrees 43.08 minutes east longitude, and said it had been confirmed by an Indian-flagged merchant ship boarded by the sailors and marines.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki denied this, saying, "That's not true. It happened in Iranian territorial waters." [source]
A plot synopsis of Tomorrow Never Dies, a James Bond film from a few years ago:
The film begins at a terrorist arms bazaar "somewhere on the Russian border". MI6 has sent Bond (Pierce Brosnan) into the field to survey trades and purchases by the terrorists. They identify Henry Gupta (Ricky Jay), who has purchased an American GPS encoder. A missile strike is ordered on the position, but they then realise there are two Soviet nuclear torpedos mounted on a plane, potentially causing radioactive contamination...
The encoder is used by media mogul Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), as a tool to start a war between the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom; this is to gain an exclusive marketing device to launch his new worldwide television network. He uses the encoder to send a British frigate, HMS Devonshire, off-course in the South China Sea, where Carver's own stealth ship is located. Carver's henchman, Mr. Stamper (Götz Otto), sinks the frigate and shoots down a Chinese fighter plane sent out to investigate. The British thought they had been attacked by the Chinese, and Admiral Roebuck gives M (Judi Dench) 48 hours to investigate before they retaliate. [source]