British government officials will release evidence on Wednesday designed to prove that British marines seized by Iranians last week were patrolling well inside Iraqi waters and should never have been captured.
The evidence will include maps, detailed co-ordinates and photographs of the area. The Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, cutting short a visit to Turkey on Tuesday, will also make a statement to MPs today, but the detailed briefing will be left to officials.
The plan to put the British case in the public domain will only change if overnight the Iranian government give British diplomats access to the 15 marines and sailors captured by Iranians on Friday after searching a boat in the Gulf, off the coast of Iraq, which they suspected was smuggling cars.
Ministers believe the Iranians have transferred the 15, including one woman, to Tehran for more detailed questioning. There has been some indication from Tehran that British diplomats will be given access once the current round of preliminary questioning is over.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday referred to the gradual escalation of the British response to the seizure by saying if there was no progress the dispute would enter a different phase. Beckett has enlisted the help of the Turkish government to see if they can act as an intermediary. She rang the Iranian foreign ministry to demand access to the marines and their release.
The prime minister’s spokesperson said: “We are utterly confident we were in Iraqi waters, not just marginally inside Iraqi waters. It is best dealt with privately, but there may come a point when we have to be more explicit. It’s a case of tactics and if and when we have to prove that.”
The officials will release details of the co-ordinates of an Iranian dhow being used by smugglers and boarded by British marines after it broke down. “There was a boat we inspected,” the prime minister’s spokesperson said.
The marines, operating off HMS Cornwall, were then surrounded and captured by the Iranian navy.
Government officials said photographs would show the dhow was well inside Iraqi waters in the complex Shatt al-Arab waterway. It is understood the British navy returned to photograph the dhow, and have details from a Lynx helicopter.
The Iranians may counter that the borders inside the waters are poorly marked, 20 years out of date and disputed.
Blair, in remarks on Tuesday morning designed to keep the temperature cool, said: “What we are trying to do at the moment is to pursue this through the diplomatic channels and make the Iranian government understand these people have to be released and that there is absolutely no justification whatever for holding them.
“I hope we manage to get them to realise they have to release them. If not, then this will move into a different phase.”
Number 10 insisted the reference to a different phase should not be seen as a sign that any form of military action was being considered. Nevertheless, the Defence Secretary, Des Browne, chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee to discuss the British response to the crisis. Diplomats stressed the multi-headed and divided Iranian government might take time to come to a cohesive view to release the 15.
There has been speculation that the capture was linked to the seizure of five Iranian republican guards seized by US forces in Iraq. Blair said the situations were “completely distinct” as any Iranian forces inside Iraq were breaching a United Nations mandate. “In the end it is a question really for the Iranian government as to whether they want to abide by international law or not,” he said.
Beckett complained the Iranian government has not told Britain where the sailors and marines are being held, and said they had been operating in Iraqi waters in support of the government of Iraq. “There can be, of course, no charge of espionage for someone operating in the country’s waters in support of the government of that country,” Beckett said.
In a further bid to keep the dispute low key, US state department officials have been careful not to make bellicose noises, leaving it solely to Britain to handle the crisis for fear that a US intervention will be counter-productive and force Tehran to become more inflexible. – Guardian Unlimited Â