WORLD / Middle East
Britain urged to admit navy trespassed
(AP)
Updated: 2007-03-29 07:37
A video grab off the Iranian Arabic-language television station Al-Alam
shows British servicewoman Faye Turney (R) eating with the British
sailors seized last week at gunpoint by Iran in northern Gulf waters.
Iran on Wednesday showed the first pictures of 15 detained British navy
personnel after Britain froze contacts between the two in an escalating
dispute over the captives.[AP]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday that
Britain must admit that its 15 sailors and marines entered Iranian waters
in order to resolve a standoff over their capture by the Mideast nation.
Manouchehr Mottaki's statement in an interview with The Associated Press
came on a day of escalating tensions, highlighted by an Iranian video of
the detained Britons that showed the only woman captive saying her group
had "trespassed" in Iranian waters. Britain angrily denounced the video
as unacceptable and froze most dealings with the Mideast nation.
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Mottaki said that if the alleged entry into Iranian waters was a mistake
"this can be solved. But they have to show that it was a mistake, that
will help us to end this issue."
"Admitting the mistake will facilitate a solution to the problem," he
said late Wednesday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he was attending
a summit of Arab leaders.
It was the first time that Iran has publicly suggested a way to resolve
the crisis, but British acquiescence appeared unlikely as the country has
been insisting since the crisis began that its troops were in Iraqi
waters and released documents on Wednesday to back up the claim.
There was no immediate comment from the British to Mottaki's statement. A
call to Britain's Foreign Office in London was not answered early
Thursday.
Mottaki also backed off a prediction that the female sailor, Faye Turney,
could be freed Wednesday or Thursday, but said Tehran agreed to allow
British officials to meet with service personnel.
"We have accepted that (the British request), there is no problem.
Measures are underway (to arrange meeting.) They can meet them," he said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government announced it was freezing
all dealings with Iran except to negotiate the release of its personnel,
adding to a public exchange of sharp comments that helped fuel a spike in
world oil prices.
Britain's military released a GPS readout it said proved the Royal Navy
personnel were seized 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters Friday. But
Mottaki said Iran had GPS devices from the British boats that showed they
were in Iranian territory.
A few hours later, a brief video of the captured Britons was shown on
Iran's Arabic language satellite television station, Al-Alam.
One segment showed sailors and marines sitting in an Iranian boat in open
waters immediately after their capture.
The video also displayed what appeared to be a handwritten letter from
Faye Turney, 26, to her family.
"I have written a letter to the Iranian people to apologize for us
entering their waters," it said. The letter also asks Turney's parents in
Britain to look after her 3-year-old daughter, Molly, and her husband,
Adam.
The video showed Turney in checkered head scarf and her uniform eating
with other sailors and marines. Later, wearing a white tunic and black
head scarf, she sat in a room before floral curtains and smoked a
cigarette.
Turney was the only detainee to be shown speaking, giving her name and
saying she had been in the navy for nine years.
"Obviously we trespassed into their waters," Turney said at one point,
her voice audible under a simultaneous Arabic translation. "They were
very friendly and very hospitable, very thoughtful, nice people. They
explained to us why we've been arrested. There was no harm, no
aggression."
In backing away from predictions that Turney could be freed Wednesday or
Thursday, Mottaki said Iran will look into releasing her "as soon as
possible."
Asked when Iran would release Turney, Mottaki said in the interview with
the AP, "We will look into this as soon as possible."
He said earlier reports that he had said she could be freed Wednesday or
Thursday were incorrect. "I was probably misquoted," he said.
Earlier in the day, Mottaki told AP on the sidelines of an Arab summit in
the Saudi capital, "Today or tomorrow, the lady will be released." The
Turkish television station, CNN-Turk, had also reported him saying
Wednesday she would be freed "today or tomorrow."
But the talk of releasing Turney did little to calm British anger.
Before the broadcast, a spokesman for Blair said any showing of British
personnel on TV would be a breach of the Geneva Conventions.
After the footage was aired, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said she
was "very concerned about these pictures and any indication of pressure
on, or coercion of, our personnel. ... I am particularly disappointed
that a private letter has been used in a way which can only add to the
distress of the families."
The third Geneva Convention bans subjecting prisoners of war to
intimidation, insults or "public curiosity." Because there is no armed
conflict between Iran and Britain, the captives would not technically be
classified as prisoners of war.
Blair told the House of Commons that "there was no justification whatever
... for their detention, it was completely unacceptable, wrong and
illegal."
"We had hoped to see their immediate release; this has not happened. It
is now time to ratchet up the diplomatic and international pressure in
order to make sure the Iranian government understands its total isolation
on this issue," he said.
Beckett said Britain would focus all its efforts on resolving the issue.
"We will, therefore, be imposing a freeze on all other official bilateral
business with Iran until the situation is resolved. We will keep other
aspects of our policy towards Iran under close review and continue to
proceed carefully. But no one should be in any doubt about the
seriousness with which we regard these events," she said.
The statement appeared to refer to diplomatic dealings rather than
business relations, but Britain's Department of Trade said the country
does not buy oil directly from Iran.
Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel Wednesday to a six-month high
amid worries about the standoff, which came as the U.S. Navy is carrying
out its largest show of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion
of Iraq.
President Bush discussed the 15 Britons with Blair over a secured video
conference call Wednesday, White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino
said. "The president fully backs Tony Blair and our allies in Britain,"
she said.
British officials have said the 15 Britons were taken captive after
completing a search of a civilian ship near the mouth of the Shatt
al-Arab waterway, which forms the border between Iran and Iraq.
Soon after the sailors and marines were seized, Britain had hoped to
resolve the issue quickly. In 2004, six British marines and two sailors
were captured by Iran in the Shatt al-Arab but released within days.
In London, British military officials released new information about the
location where they said the Britons and their two inflatable boats were
seized by Iranian naval forces.
The military said satellite positioning readings showed the vessels were
1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters.
Vice Adm. Charles Style gave the satellite coordinates as 29 degrees
50.36 minutes north latitude and 48 degrees 43.08 minutes east longitude.
He said that position had been confirmed by an Indian-flagged merchant
ship boarded by the sailors and marines.
He also told reporters the Iranians had provided a geographical position
Sunday that he said was in Iraqi waters. By Tuesday, he said, Iranian
officials had given a revised position 2 miles to the east, inside
Iranian waters.
"It is hard to understand a legitimate reason for this change of
coordinates," Style said.
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