World Media Coverage of UK-Iran Sailors Row 31 Mar 07

Mar 31, 11:58 AM

Current Headlines: The diplomatic stand-off between Britain and Iran over the detention of 15 navy personnel in the Gulf a week ago continues to attract attention in the regional and world media, with the focus shifting from reaction to UN and EU appeals for the soldiers' immediate release to reaction to Tehran's statement that the detainees might be put on trial.

Russia

Speaking on Russian Vesti -24 TV on Friday, the Iranian ambassador to Moscow, Gholamreza Ansari, said that Iran had started legal proceedings against the UK captives but did not elaborate on details. He insisted again that the soldiers had strayed into Iranian waters and said that if charges against them were proven, they would be punished.

Ansari reiterated Tehran's previous assertions that the issue could have been resolved "without much fuss" had the UK government apologized for the "intrusion", describing the UK's handling of the crisis as a ruse to divert attention from other events in the region - an apparent reference to the Iraq war.

He warned that the UK "practice of resorting to threats" could only "aggravate" the situation.

He said the release of sailor Faye Turney, the only woman detainee, may now be "reconsidered" due to the UK government's "blackmail".

Ansari's remarks on Turney's release were rebroadcast by independent Ekho Moskvy radio.

Both channels adopt a neutral style in their reports, refraining from any editorial comment.

Middle East

Ansari's remarks made the top headline in Egyptian Nile News TV 1300 gmt news bulletin on 31 March, which showed footage of the Iranian ambassador's interview with Russian TV.

"Russia urges the UN to launch independent investigation into Iran's holding of the 15 British sailors. On the other hand, the Iranian ambassador in Moscow says the British sailors may face trial," the TV reported.

The channel also highlighted the British foreign secretary's statement in which she said that the UK had sent a diplomatic memorandum to Tehran in response to a similar Iranian memo, noting that she declined to reveal the content of the memos.

The TV's correspondent in Tehran reported "a state of division" in Iran on how to deal with the crisis at both the official and popular levels.

"While there are calls for the sailors to be imprisoned, tried and even executed, the Iranian Foreign Ministry has adopted a moderate policy towards the crisis so that the circle of the already mounting international pressures would not expand," the TV reported.

The report highlighted remarks made by Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami who warned the UK that it "will pay an exorbitant price if it continues pressuring Iran with this adopted hooliganism method."

The previous day, Egyptian Channel 1 TV devoted the first ten minutes of its 1900 gmt news bulletin to the crisis.

The report focused on EU foreign ministers' demand for the immediate release of the UK sailors and on Tehran's appeal to the EU not to intervene.

An Iranian political analyst, speaking from the EU summit in Bremen, told the TV that "the dominant view in Europe and the West" was that the row could have been resolved in a more amicable way had Tony Blair "not rushed to escalate the crisis" in order to score some political points at home.

He predicted that "the crisis will end soon" adding that "it is not unlikely that the UK will find a way out" by pledging "not to stray into Iranian waters again".

The TV also carried an interview with UK government spokesman Jon Wilks who said diplomatic efforts to defuse the row were ongoing. He denounced Iran's decision to air "confessions" by two UK soldiers on Iranian TV as "shameful acts" which he said would lead to the further isolation of Iran by the international community".

In Iraq, a commentary in the Al-Sharq al-Awsat on 31 March argued that Iran's apparent intransigence was pushing the British public towards a more hard-line stance regarding possible military action against Iran.

"Only a week ago, most Britons were strongly opposed to joining Washington in a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. But today, British public opinion is pressing for a tough stance vis- a-vis Tehran and is very much in favour of taking 'any measure' to free the British hostages from Iranian custody."

The paper suspected that the timing of the crisis was calculated to divert attention from "the diplomatic defeat inflicted on Tehran" by the adoption of a UN resolution imposing tougher sanctions on Tehran over its failure to halt uranium enrichment.

Tehran's "recourse to the hostage-taking diplomacy", it added, was only a "rehearsal" for possible similar actions in the future against the UK-led international forces in charge of searching Iranian vessels as part of efforts to enforce the resolution.

Iraqi Al-Iraqiyah TV in its news 1700 gmt bulletin on 30 March showed Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari saying at a ceremony for the new US envoy to Iraq that his government was in touch with Iranian counterparts over the row.

The Saudi news agency SPA reported on 31 March that Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Abd-al-Rahman al- Atiyyah has urged the Iranian and UK governments to settle the crisis "in a wise and flexible manner".

A report in the Algerian newspaper L'Expression on 31 March wondered if Algeria was going "to repeat the diplomatic exploit of the American hostages who were freed by Tehran following Algiers's "historic" mediation" during a visit by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad expected to take place "within the next few days".

"Algeria, which is experienced in this type of mediation, might in fact serve as an ideal interlocutor in the conflict over the British hostages as well as the Iranian nuclear issue," it said.

China

In China, official Xinhua news agency and semi-official China News Service both carried a number of factual reports about the incident.

The influential People's Daily published a lengthy article on the row, interviewing correspondents in the UK, Syria, Pakistan, the US and the UN.

The Pakistan correspondent saw similarity with the 2004 incident, noting that Iran has been under a lot of pressure from the international community over its nuclear programme and predicting that Tehran is unlikely to give up its "card" so easily.

Similarly, a front-page commentary by a senior editor in the daily's overseas edition entitled "a small episode in a very grave situation" said Iran is likely to handle the incident in the same way as it did in 2004, but unless Britain promises not to pursue the issue further after the release of its personnel, the row would probably drag on for some time.

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