TEHRAN, June 21: Iran has seized three British navy vessels that entered its territorial waters near the Iraqi border, arresting eight British sailors, Iran's Arabic-language satellite news channel Al Alam reported on Monday.

"The Iranian navy has confiscated three British boats that entered Iranian territorial waters... arresting the crew of eight people. On the boats they found weapons and maps," the station reported, quoting Iranian naval sources.

The report said the arrests were made on the Shatt al-Arab waterway that flows into the Gulf and is the boundary between Iran and Iraq. Meanwhile, the British military in Baghdad confirmed three boats and eight crew disappeared in the waterway neighbouring Iran on Monday after an Iranian state news channel announced the sailors had been arrested and the boats confiscated. -AFP