London: Britain's Foreign Office summoned Iran's ambassador on Monday as diplomats pressed Tehran for the release of 15 sailors and marines accused of illegally entering Iranian waters.
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, on an official visit to Turkey, called on Iran to allow access to the captives.
''We're pressing the Iranian government at variety of levels to give us details of where our personnel are being held so that we can have consular access to check for ourselves that they are in good health,'' Beckett said.
''We made clear all along that our sailors and ... marines were carrying out a routine operation in Iraqi waters and in support of the Iraqi government,'' Beckett said, complaining that Iran neither gave ''information about the whereabouts'' of the British personnel nor granted consular access.
At the Foreign Office in London, undersecretary Lord Triesman spent about 45 minutes talking with Rasoul Movahedian, the Iranian ambassador to Britain.
During their third meeting since the crisis began, Lord Triesman again demanded the safe return of the 15, and reiterated the British stance that the sailors and marines were operating in Iraqi waters, a Foreign Office spokesman said anonymously, in line with government policy.
Beckett characterised those discussions as ''frank and brisk.''
Quoting an unnamed Iranian source, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported the sailors and marines were being held at a military base in Tehran. The Foreign Office said that Britain does not know where its service personnel were detained.
The detention of the Britons appeared likely to worsen relations with Iran at a time when Tehran is at odds with the West over its nuclear program and is accused of interfering with the Iraq war.
But Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman said Monday that the seizure of naval personnel would be treated as a distinct issue. ''This is a matter that should be dealt with on its own merits,'' he said.
Blair said Sunday he hoped the situation could be resolved in as diplomatic a way as possible, and his office stressed the British leader had been ''very careful when he intervened,'' mindful of the potential repercussions on other issues.
PAGE_BREAK
The seizure of the crew was a matter to ''be treated on its own, and that is how we are approaching it,'' Blair's official spokesman told reporters Monday.
Iranian officials said the crew were being interrogated and Tehran has rejected British requests to visit them, warning that the personnel could face charges for allegedly entering Iranian waters – a claim both Downing Street and the Foreign Office has repeatedly rejected.
Blair's spokesman declined to confirm whether Britain had provided authorities with satellite positioning coordinates of the sailors' positions, which would verify Britain's clam. He said only that discreet and private negotiations were taking place.
Britain's Foreign Office also declined to confirm whether it had offered Iranian authorities proof the sailors were seized inside Iraqi boundaries, but said was certain the group were ''well inside Iraqi waters.''
Britain's Defense Ministry would not disclose details of positioning equipment carried on board the craft sailors were using when seized, but said it was ''categorically certain'' they had not strayed into Iranian waters.
A UN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media, said Monday that British and Iranian diplomats at the United Nations in New York were not taking part in the negotiations over the Britons' release.
The UN Security Council agreed Saturday to tougher sanctions against Iran for its refusal to meet UN demands that it halt uranium enrichment. Many in the West fear the country's civilian nuclear research is a cover for a weapons program, a claim Iran denies.
Britain and the United States have said the sailors and marines were intercepted Friday just after they completed a search of a civilian vessel in the Iraqi part of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where the border with Iran has historically been disputed.
Analysts claimed the seizure was likely linked to tensions between the West and Iran, despite insistence from Blair's office that the incident would not affect wider diplomatic issues.
''It seems much more than coincidence that it happened right before the UN voted,'' said Alex Bigham, an Iran expert at Britain's Foreign Policy Center. ''One could say, that yet again Iran has badly miscalculated and this is only going to further damage its relations with the international community.''
In June 2004, six British marines and two sailors were captured by Iran and paraded blindfolded on Iranian television. They admitted they had entered Iranian waters illegally but were released unharmed after three days.
Comments
0 comment