Britain Freezes Relations With Iran Until 15 Sailors Are Freed

Mar 28, 08:50 PM

Current Headlines: LONDON _ Britain and Iran both raised the stakes in their standoff over the fate of 15 British navy personnel that Iran captured at gunpoint off the coast of Iraq five days ago.

Iranian state television on Wednesday broadcast video of the captives, including comments from the one woman among them who said that British boats had "trespassed" into Iranian waters.

Iran later indicated that it might soon free the female sailor, who has been identified as Leading Seaman Faye Turney, 26, a nine-year Royal Navy veteran and mother of a 3-year-old child.

The British government denounced the Iranian broadcast as "completely unacceptable."

Earlier, the British Ministry of Defense released satellite data that it says proves the British sailors were operating in Iraqi territorial waters when they were captured _ not, as Tehran claims, in Iranian waters.

Prime Minister Tony Blair also announced Britain was freezing bilateral relations with Tehran until the 15 are freed.

"It is now time to ratchet up international and diplomatic pressure," Blair told the House of Commons, adding that Iran stands in "total isolation."

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told The Associated Press that his country would look into releasing Turney "as soon as possible." But he also said the crisis would not be resolved until Britain admitted its forces entered Iranian waters.

"First they have to admit that they have made a mistake," Mottaki said.

Iran is refusing to allow foreign diplomats access to the captives or to even tell the British government where they are being held.

The broadcast of the video of the captured Britons carries echoes of a similar incident in 2004 during which Iran infuriated Britain by parading a group of blindfolded British sailors before television cameras.

Blair's office specifically warned the Iranians not to show the captives on television, asserting that to do so was a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Wednesday's video, broadcast on Iranian television's Arabic service, shows the marines and sailors eating a meal. In her comments and in a handwritten letter, Turney says she and her fellow captives have been well-treated.

"They (the Iranians) 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," said Turney, who was shown wearing a variety of head scarves. She was the only one who spoke in the video.

The Foreign Office, in a statement, said: "It's completely unacceptable for these pictures to be shown on television."

In an unusual briefing for journalists Wednesday morning, Vice Admiral Charles Style, deputy chief of defense staff, sat in front of a large map of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates Iraq and Iran and provided the exact coordinates of where the incident took place: 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters.

The evidence was based on a satellite readout of the position of an Indian merchant ship that had been boarded for a routine inspection by the British sailors and marines shortly before they were surrounded and captured by Iranian gunboats.

Earlier, Iran had presented its own satellite coordinates as proof of where it claimed the incident had taken place. Inexplicably, the Iranian coordinates also put the British sailors in Iraqi waters.

"We pointed this out to them on Sunday in diplomatic contacts," said Style.

On Tuesday, the Iranians sent the British revised coordinates, putting the incident back in Iran's waters.

"It's hard to understand a legitimate reason for this change of coordinates," Style said.

In Parliament, Blair provided the first detailed account of the incident. According to the prime minister, the 15 sailors and marines had just completed the inspection of the Indian merchant ship and were disembarking to their own vessels when they were surrounded by six Iranian gunboats armed with heavy machine guns and rocket launchers.

The first two boats that approached signaled friendly intentions, but then the four others swarmed in, and the British sailors and marines surrendered. According to some analysts, the swiftness of the attack and the number of Iranian vessels involved suggested a premeditated attack.

Blair said the out-gunned British personnel made the right choice in surrendering.

"If they had engaged in military combat at that stage, there would have undoubtedly been severe loss of life. I think they took the right decision and did what was entirely sensible," he said.

Blair appeared to be responding to criticism by a U.S. Navy commander operating in the Persian Gulf.

According to The Times newspaper of London, Lt. Cmdr. Erik Horner, second in command on the U.S. frigate Underwood, working alongside the Royal Navy, said: "We not only have a right to self-defense but also an obligation to self-defense. (The British) had every right and every justification to defend themselves rather than allow themselves to be taken. Our reaction was, `Why didn't your guys defend themselves?'"

The Bush administration has generally maintained a low profile throughout the crisis.

Blair indicated that after five days of quiet diplomacy to resolve the crisis, Britain's patience was wearing thin.

"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 told Parliament.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, also speaking in Parliament, repeated Blair's warning that the crisis had reached "a different phase."

"That is why MoD have today released details of the incident and why I have concluded that we need to focus all our bilateral efforts during this phase to resolution of this issue. We will, therefore be imposing a freeze on all other official bilateral business with Iran until this situation is resolved," she said.

She did not elaborate on the specifics of the freeze, but her office later said Britain would stop issuing visas to senior Iranian officials and would cancel trade missions and other contacts.

Beckett said she had been assured by Iran that there was no linkage between the seizure of the 15 Britons and recent sanctions imposed on Iran by the United Nations in retaliation for Iran's refusal to abandon its uranium enrichment program.

There also were concerns that Iran might demand the release of five of its officials captured by American troops in Iraq earlier this year in exchange for the British prisoners, but Beckett said the Iranians had made no demands.

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