Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday that Britain must admit that its 15 sailors and marines entered his nation’s waters in order to resolve a standoff over their seizure by Iranian forces.
Manouchehr Mottaki’s statement in an interview with The Associated Press came on a day of escalating tensions, highlighted by an Iranian video of the detained Britons that showed the only female captive saying her group had “trespassed.” Britain angrily denounced the video as unacceptable and froze most dealings with the Mideast nation.
Mottaki said that if the alleged 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.”
It was the first time Iran has publicly suggested a way to resolve the crisis, but British acquiescence appeared unlikely as the country has been insisting since the crisis began that its troops were in Iraqi waters and released documents Wednesday to back up the claim.
The British had no immediate comment on Mottaki’s statement.
Mottaki also backed off a prediction that the female sailor, Faye Turney, could be freed by today, but he said Tehran agreed to allow British officials to meet with service personnel.
“We have accepted that (the British request). There is no problem. Measures are underway (to arrange a meeting.) They can meet them,” he said.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government announced it was freezing all dealings with Iran except to negotiate the release of its personnel, adding to a public exchange of sharp comments that helped fuel a spike in world oil prices.
Britain’s military released a GPS readout that it said proved the Royal Navy personnel were seized 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters Friday. But Mottaki said Iran had GPS devices from the British boats that showed they were in Iranian territory.
A few hours later, a brief video of the captured Britons was shown on Iran’s satellite television station al-Alam.
One segment showed 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 asks 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. Later, wearing a white tunic and black head scarf, she sat in a room before floral curtains and smoked a cigarette.
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, her voice audible under a simultaneous Arabic translation. “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.”
Before the broadcast, a spokesman for Blair said any showing of British personnel on TV would be a breach of the Geneva Conventions.
