Tehran – Iran said Monday that it was questioning 15 British sailors and marines to determine whether their alleged entry into Iranian waters was “intentional or unintentional” before deciding what to do with them – the first sign it could be seeking a way out of the standoff.
Iran and Britain continued to disagree about where the personnel were seized Friday. Britain insisted they were in Iraqi waters after searching a civilian cargo vessel, but the Tehran regime says it had proof they were in Iranian territory.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said they were seized in the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway flowing into the Persian Gulf that marks the border between Iran and Iraq. But the dividing line in the waterway, known in Iran as the Arvand River, has long been disputed.
The Iranian emphasis Monday on the detainees’ intent was a noticeable pullback from the certainty expressed Saturday by Iran’s military chief, Gen. Ali Reza Afshar. He said at the time that the 15 had confessed to “aggression into the Islamic Republic of Iran’s waters.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Mehzi Mostafavi took a softer line Monday while saying that the 14 men and one woman were still being interrogated.
“It should become clear whether their entry was intentional or unintentional,” Mostafavi said. “After that is clarified, the necessary decision will be made.”
Iran has refused to say where the captured Britons were being held or to allow British officials to speak with them, but assured the British ambassador to Tehran, Geoffrey Adams, that they were in good health.
There were fears in Britain that the fate of the 15 could get caught up in the political tensions between Tehran and the West, including the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program and accusations of Iranian help to Shiite militants in Iraq.
In particular, there were worries Iran might seek to use the prisoners as leverage in trying to get the U.S. to free at least five Iranians detained in Iraq for allegedly being part of a Revolutionary Guard force that provides funds, weapons and training to Iraqi Shiite militias.
