Iran Wants Britain to Admit Intrusion

Mar 29, 08:52 PM

Current Headlines: By Salah Nasrawi

Iran's foreign minister said Wednesday that Britain must admit that its 15 sailors and marines had entered Iranian waters if it wants to resolve a standoff over their capture.

Manouchehr Mottaki made the statement in an interview with the Associated Press 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 denounced the video as unacceptable and froze most dealings with Iran.

Mottaki said that if what he called the 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 in Riyadh, 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 because, since the crisis began, Britain has insisted that its troops were in Iraqi waters. It also released documents to back up the claim.

Mottaki backed off a prediction that Faye Turney, the only woman among those being held, could be freed Wednesday or today but said Iran has agreed to let British officials meet with the captives.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government announced it was freezing all dealings with Iran except to negotiate the release of its personnel.

At the United Nations, Britain asked the Security Council to support a call for the captives' immediate release, saying they had been operating in Iraqi waters under a Security Council mandate and at the request of Iraq, council diplomats said. The issue was expected to be debated today.

Britain's military released a global positioning satellite readout it said proved that the Royal Navy personnel had been seized Friday 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters. But Mottaki said Iran had devices from the British boats that showed they were in Iranian territory.

A few hours later, Al-Alam, Iran's Arabic language satellite television station, showed a brief video of the captives.

One segment showed the 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 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 asked 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.

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. "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 today, Mottaki said Iran will look into releasing her "as soon as possible."

Before the broadcast showing Turney and the other captives, a spokesman for Blair said any showing of British personnel on TV would violate 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."

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