More on Brit Sailors

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Europe threatens action as Iran airs new 'confession'
EU officials warn of 'appropriate measures' if sailors, marines not released

EU foreign ministers support British position and warn of 'appropriate measures' if 15 sailors and marines not released 

The EU threatened to act against Iran last night if it did not immediately and unconditionally release the 15 British sailors and marines it has been holding for more than a week.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Bremen, Germany, threatened "appropriate measures" if Tehran did not let the group go, supporting Britain's position that the crew had been in Iraqi waters when they were seized eight days ago. The ministers did not spell out what measures would be taken, but British diplomats hoped they would involve an escalating array of punitive steps.

The tough statement was the kind of direct rebuke Britain had sought in vain from the UN security council on Thursday night when, in the face of resistance from Russia and others, the council only expressed concern but threatened no action. Despite the EU statement, prospects for a quick resolution to the crisis dwindled yesterday after another propaganda video and letter featuring more dubious confessions and apologies by the captives.

The only glimmer of hope for a quick diplomatic solution was a note presented yesterday to Britain's ambassador in Tehran, portrayed by Iranian officials as conciliatory, which bore some resemblance to a letter sent shortly before the end of a similar drama in 2004.

The letter restated that the British naval patrol was in Iranian waters when it was intercepted by boats of the Iranian revolutionary guard, which Britain denies. But unlike previous Iranian pronouncements it did not demand an apology, just a guarantee it would not happen again.

After the delivery of the letter, an Iranian official expressed hope to the Guardian that the crisis would be "resolved soon". But Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, dismissed it, saying it did not suggest Iran was looking for a way out.

Geoffrey Adams, the British ambassador to Tehran, returned to the foreign ministry with a reply last night, but the Foreign Office would not say what it was. British officials have diminishing confidence that the foreign ministry has any control over the guards who captured the British crew. "It's just white noise," said one diplomat about the Iranian note. "Our reaction over the weekend is that we're going to carry on our efforts, but we're not going to react to everything the Iranians do."

An Iranian official said the matter was being handled properly by the foreign ministry and the supreme national security council, and rejected suggestions that any other agencies were trying to influence the outcome. Downing Street is understood to take a rosier view of the note than the Foreign Office, believing it opened a clear channel of communication. Tony Blair stressed the need for calm in a statement, but he also expressed "disgust" at the captives' treatment.

The Iranian captors continued to use the only female captive, Leading Seaman Faye Turney, to broadcast anti-British messages. A third letter in her handwriting claimed she was being "sacrificed, due to the intervening policies of the Bush and Blair governments". "It is now our time to ask our government to make a change to its oppressive behaviour towards other people," the letter said.

Another captive, Nathan Summers, was also broadcast admitting the British crew had "trespassed without permission".

Responding to the broadcast of the latest video, Mr Blair told reporters in Manchester: "The Iranians have to realise if they continue in this way they will face increasing isolation - we had the UN statement yesterday, the EU today and will be talking to other key allies over the weekend."

Gordon Brown, speaking during a visit to British forces in Afghanistan, told reporters: "Overnight, the UN resolution is calling definitively for their release. That's the unanimous view of the international community."

Opposition politicians stressed the need for a unified front. David Cameron told the BBC: "I think the British government is doing the right thing. They have my support. "

Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, stressed that it was impossible to see the full picture: "There's what's being done in public, what's being done in private and what's being done in private by intermediaries."

Interrogation

The captured sailors would not have had special "conduct after capture" training and will have to rely on common sense, military sources say. They would have been advised to say little about their families to avoid greater pressure. But formal training is usually reserved for special forces and pilots, who endure mock interrogations.

Military sources suggested the captives were unlikely to have any sensitive state secrets. "In the main, they should just use their common sense," said one official. Whether training for capture is reviewed as a result of this incident will depend on their eventual debriefing.

[Soldier4Christ]

U.S. rejects Tehran captives exchange
Deal nixed to swap 15 Brits captured in Gulf for Iranians seized in Iraq

US officials have ruled out a deal to exchange 15 Royal Navy personnel captured in the Gulf for five Iranians seized by American forces in Iraq.

State department spokesman Sean McCormack rejected suggestions that a swap could be made.

The five, believed to be members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, were seized in January in the Iraqi city of Irbil.

Britain denies Iran's claims that the UK crew were in its waters when seized on 23 March.

The five Iranians were captured in a raid along with equipment which the Americans say shows clear Iranian links to networks supplying Iraqi insurgents with technology and weapons.

US officials have condemned Iran's actions and publicly supported the UK.

Mr McCormack said: "The international community is not going to stand for the Iranian government trying to use this issue to distract the rest of the world from the situation in which Iran finds itself vis-a-vis its nuclear programme."

Earlier, Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned Iran for "parading" the UK crew on television in a way which would only "enhance people's sense of disgust".

In a broadcast on Iranian television, sailor Nathan Thomas Summers said: "I would like to apologise for entering your waters without permission."

He was shown alongside two colleagues, including Leading Seaman Faye Turney, 26, from Shropshire, who was broadcast apologising to Iran earlier in the week.

A third letter, allegedly from LS Turney, was released on Friday in which she said she had been "sacrificed" to UK and US government policy.

The BBC has been able to confirm the names of six of the 15 captured sailors and marines.

Along with LS Turney and Nathan Summers, who is from Cornwall, they are Paul Barton from Southport, Danny Masterton from Ayrshire, Joe Tindall from south London and Adam Sperry from Leicester.

European Union foreign ministers called for "the immediate and unconditional release" of the sailors and expressed "unconditional support" for Britain's position.

Solution

UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett described the latest footage as "quite appalling" and "blatant propaganda".

She also disclosed there was nothing in a formal letter from the Iranians to the UK that suggested they were looking for a solution to "this difficult situation".

The note condemned the navy's "illegal act" and demanded guarantees against "the recurrence of such acts" in the future.

In the latest video, Nathan Summers says: "Since we've been arrested in Iran our treatment has been very friendly.

"We have not been harmed at all. They've looked after us really well.

"The food they've been serving us is good and I am grateful that no harm has come to us.

"I would just like to apologise for entering your waters without permission. And that happened back in 2004, and the government promised that it wouldn't happen again.

The BBC's defence correspondent Paul Wood said last year US President Bush gave a secret order that Iranian agents believed working in Iraq should be captured or killed because of the coalition's belief that Iran was "fermenting trouble in Iraq".

He said it meant there was a "compelling theory" that the UK sailors were captured as a result of an order "from the highest levels of Iranian government" which would make it a "very different game" for the Foreign Office to sort out.

Earlier, the UN Security Council agreed a statement at a meeting in Bremen, Germany, voicing "grave concern" at Iran's actions.

The statement also calls on Tehran to allow the UK access to the personnel and urges an "early resolution", including release of the crew, but stops short of "deploring" Iran's action, as requested by the UK.

The Britons, based on HMS Cornwall, were seized by Revolutionary Guards as they returned from searching a vessel in the northern Gulf.

 UK VERSION OF EVENTS
1 Crew boards merchant ship 1.7NM inside Iraqi waters
2 HMS Cornwall was south-east of this, and inside Iraqi waters
3 Iran tells UK that merchant ship was at a different point, still within Iraqi waters
4 After UK points this out, Iran provides alternative position, now within Iranian waters

 IRANIAN VERSION OF EVENTS
1 Royal Navy crew stray 0.5km inside Iranian waters
2 Iran gives set of co-ordinates to back up their claims
3 According to seized GPS equipment, the Royal Navy crew had previously entered Iranian waters at several other points
4 Iran informs Britain of the position where the crew were seized, inside Iranian waters

[Soldier4Christ]

The capture of the UK crew
Britain and Iran have released conflicting accounts of the location where 15 sailors and Marines were detained by Iranian forces on 23 March.

    * The Ministry of Defence says the merchant ship boarded by a crew from HMS Cornwall on 23 March was 1.7 nautical miles (3.1km) inside Iraqi territorial waters. It says the master of the vessel has confirmed this.

    * HMS Cornwall was south-east of the merchant ship, inside Iraqi waters.

    * On 24 March the Iranian government told the UK - according to the UK's Ministry of Defence - that the merchant vessel was at a different location, but still within Iraqi waters.

    * When the UK pointed out to the Iranians that the location they had given was within Iraqi waters, the Iranians provided a "corrected" location, nearly 1 nautical mile away (1.9km) from its first position but within Iranian waters.

    * The UK government disputes both Iranian claims. It says the "corrected" location is more than 2 nautical miles (3.7km) from its own version, as recorded by HMS Cornwall's GPS data equipment.

      How GPS works

    * One of the small boats used by the boarding party from HMS Cornwall had a GPS chart plotter, continually communicating its position to HMS Cornwall, where the position was displayed on an electronic chart.

    * The UK says the two boats were together at all times.

    * HMS Cornwall's Lynx helicopter had been monitoring the initial stages of the boarding of the Indian-flagged merchant ship, at 0739 local time on 23 March.

      Communications with the boarding team were lost at the time the boarding ended - at 0910.

    * The helicopter crew returned to the scene and reported that the two boats were being escorted by Iranian Islamic Republican Guard Navy vessels towards the Shatt al Arab waterway, inside Iranian territorial waters.




Translation of news item broadcast on Iran's IribNews channel, 29 March 2007:

[Presenter] An Iranian navy official has said: "According to the information recorded on the British sailors' GPS, their entrance and stay in Iranian waters is definite."

Colonel Setareh, commander of Arvand Coastguard Base:
"In the name of God. On Friday 23 March 2007, two British boats intruded Iranian water borders. Ultimately, these sailors were arrested on this spot [shows the spot on a map].

"After reading the information on their navigation equipment - the GPS seized from them - it was revealed that they had already intruded water borders of the Islamic Republic of Iran on these spots marked on the map [indicates position].

"They were ultimately stopped and arrested on this spot. [indicates position. Video then shows Iranian boats approaching British boats. Voices of coastguards can be heard as saying: "Yes, they are British".]

"Bearing in mind that British naval boats had previously violated Iranian waters in 2004 and had given commitment in the same year not to repeat this again, they have been handed over to relevant officials for further investigation and the issue is being studied."

Source: Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, Tehran, in Persian 1503 gmt 29 Mar 07, translated by BBC Monitoring.

[Soldier4Christ]

Power struggle in Iran over hostages
General who urged release denounced for weakness, 'liberal tendencies'

THE fate of the 15 British marines and sailors held in Tehran may depend on the outcome of a power struggle between two of Iran’s top generals, write Uzi Mahnaimi and Marie Colvin.

According to an Iranian military source, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards has called for them to be freed.

Major-General Yahya Rahim Safavi is said to have told the country’s Supreme National Security Council on Friday that the situation was “getting out of control” and urged its members to consider the immediate release of the prisoners to defuse tension in the Gulf.

However, Safavi’s intervention was reportedly denounced by another senior general at a meeting of high-ranking commanders yesterday.

Yadollah Javani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ political bureau, was said to have accused him of weakness and “liberal tendencies”. Javani is said to have demanded that the prisoners be put on trial.

Reports of the clash emerged as Terry Waite, who was kidnapped in Beirut while trying to negotiate a hostage release in 1987, offered to travel to Tehran to try to secure the release of the 14 servicemen and one woman.

“I don’t think one needs to be afraid of these people, but one does need to have respect for their point of view, whether you agree with it or not,” said Waite, who spent almost five years as the hostage of an Iranian-backed fundamentalist group in Beirut.

“I would rather like it if they would prove their humanity by giving me access to the country and the people being detained.”

In Tehran, tension was expected to increase further today with a huge demonstration by students outside the British embassy. The protest was being organised by the Basij, a paramilitary force of about 10m people paid by the regime.

At similar protests in the past, they have shouted, “Death to Britain” and thrown stones. An Iranian official said security was being increased in case the embassy was besieged.

The developments followed a warning by Safavi, the Revolutionary Guards commander, that Iran should prepare for a possible invasion, which he believes could come as early as next month.

US military exercises in the Persian Gulf involving two aircraft carriers, 100 aircraft and 10,000 personnel have fuelled fears in Tehran that America may be on the verge of launching airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear programme.

Many military officers believe the British naval party intercepted on March 23 was part of a ploy to test Iran’s readiness for an invasion. Tens of thousands of Basij, the force that provided the shock troops for the Iran-Iraq war, have been sent to the Iraqi border.

Iranian military sources said the Supreme National Security Council had concluded on Friday evening that Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader, should order the release of the British naval personnel on Safavi’s advice.

However, according to one account, which could not be confirmed, Javani described Safavi’s recommendation as tantamount to treason.

The demand for a trial was backed by advisers to Khamenei. “The British aggressors must be tried and dealt with according to Iranian laws,” said Ayatollah Mojtahed Shabestari, an influential cleric.

Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, Gholamreza Ansari, said a legal process was already underway. “If there is no guilt, they will be freed,” he added. But he denied that he had said they could face trial. Other officials called on Britain to send a delegation to Tehran to resolve the crisis.

Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, urged Iran to resolve the crisis peacefully and said London was open to talks.

A reply was sent to an Iranian embassy letter asking London to acknowledge that its sailors had trespassed in Iranian waters and to confirm that it would not happen again. The Foreign Office refused to reveal its response.

Javier Solana, the EU policy chief, said he hoped to talk directly to Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

[Soldier4Christ]

Iranians stage protest outside British Embassy 
Students throw firecrackers, rocks into compound in Tehran

Iranian students have thrown firecrackers and rocks into the British embassy compound during a protest in the capital Tehran.

About 200 people demonstrated against what they say was the illegal entry into Iranian waters of 15 UK Royal Navy personnel captured nine days ago.

BBC correspondent Frances Harrison said the students were hardliners who were urging Iran not to compromise.

The Foreign Office said there had been no damage and no-one had been hurt.

Demands

The BBC's correspondent, who was outside the embassy when the missiles were thrown, said the demonstrators were hardline Islamist students from Tehran University.

The protesters, whose demonstration was allowed by the Iranian government, were chanting "death to Britain" and calling for the deportation of the British ambassador, she said.

"They were making speeches, they were calling for the British sailors to be put on trial, for the British government to apologise," she said.

Riot police fired pepper spray into the crowd to prevent protesters surging forward and scaffolding had been erected against the front of the embassy to prevent people trying to get inside.

However, because of the New Year holiday period in the country, many Iranians were not fully aware of the crisis over the captured personnel, she said.

The protest was a "worrying sign" that negotiations over the release of the captured personnel may take time, she added.

Position 'clear'

Britain denies Iran's claims that the UK crew was in its waters when seized on 23 March and is demanding their "immediate" return.

Defence Secretary Des Browne, who is in neighbouring Afghanistan, said both countries were in direct bilateral contact but said the British position had been made clear.

"There is no reason to continue to keep them there. We are anxious that this matter be resolved as quickly as possible and that it be resolved by diplomatic means and we are bending every single effort to that."

The support from the international community should make it clear to Iran "that their responsibility is to release our detained personnel", he added.

President George W Bush earlier condemned Iran's "inexcusable behaviour" after the capture of the UK personnel and said he would "strongly support" the British government over the crisis.

His calls were echoed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel who said Britain had the "full solidarity of the European Union".

Note received

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran was waiting for a "change in attitude" from the UK and a "moderate approach" to its requests.

He confirmed the receipt of a note from the British embassy about the military personnel, Iranian television reported.

"This note contains many points which will be considered," he said. "However, we are waiting for a change in the attitude of the British and a moderate approach by this country towards Iran's legal requests."

Former hostage Terry Waite, who was held captive for 1,760 days in Beirut before being released in November 1991, has offered to travel to Iran to negotiate with those holding the Britons.

Mr Waite said threatening the Iranian government was counterproductive and said he would be able to "cut through some of the rhetoric".

The Britons, based on HMS Cornwall, were seized by Revolutionary Guards as they returned from searching a vessel in the northern Gulf.