/ 29 March 2007

Iran refuses to release British woman sailor

A defiant Iran said on Thursday it would not release as promised a British woman sailor captured along with 14 male colleagues because of Britain’s “incorrect” attitude in the escalating crisis.

The announcement by the head of Iran’s supreme national security council, Ali Larijani, came a day after London said it was freezing ties with Tehran and despite the intervention of United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.

“It was announced that a woman in the group would be freed, but [this development] was met with an incorrect attitude. Naturally, [the release] will be suspended and it will not take place,” he said on state television.

In London, the Foreign Office gave no immediate reaction, with a spokesperson simply reiterating: “We continue to press for their release.”

Iran has resisted mounting international pressure to free the 15, who were captured by Tehran in northern Gulf waters on Friday, although it had said on Wednesday that woman sailor, Faye Turney, would be released within a day or two.

Iranian state television ran footage of Turney and her 14 male colleagues on Wednesday, in which she said they had strayed into Iranian waters — triggering a furious reaction in London, which suspects she spoke under duress.

The Foreign Office reiterated its assertion that the British personnel were within Iraqi waters when seized, after Iran reportedly demanded an admission from London that it had made a mistake.

“We continue to press strongly for their immediate release,” a spokesperson said, recalling that Prime Minister Tony Blair had said the Iranian actions were “completely unacceptable, wrong and illegal”.

In Riyadh, the UN secretary general discussed the stand-off with Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, although there was although there was no immediate sign of progress.

“The issue of the British soldiers was addressed by the secretary general” during a meeting that lasted over one hour, a UN source said.

The British embassy in Tehran also said it still had no news on their fate.

“We have no information for the moment about a consular visit with the 15 sailors and the release of Faye Turney,” a British diplomat said.

“Ambassador Geoffrey Adams has asked for another visit with Foreign Ministry officials. We are awaiting a response.”

Iran’s Arabic language al-Alam television showed the Britons having a meal and featured Turney (26) wearing a black headscarf and saying: “Obviously we trespassed in the waters.”

“They were friendly, very hospitable, very thoughtful. Nice people,” she said of her captors, who have kept them at a secret location and not allowed them any contact with British diplomats.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said she was “very concerned” about the pictures and “any indication of pressure on or coercion of our personnel” who she said were on a routine operation in accordance with international law.

The crisis erupted at a time of high international tensions over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme, which the West fears could be a cover for ambitions to build atomic weapons.

The crisis has sent oil prices soaring to six-month highs of about $64 a barrel in Asian trade.

On Wednesday, British military chiefs used maps and GPS coordinates to affirm that the navy personnel were 1,7 nautical miles within Iraqi waters at the northern end of the Gulf.

But the Iranian embassy in London insisted that the British personnel had “illegally entered” up to 500m within Iranian territorial waters.

There has been speculation that Tehran could use the British personnel either to trade for five Iranians being held by United States forces in Iraq or to seek concessions over Iran’s nuclear drive.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he had told Mottaki that the seizure of the British sailors was “unacceptable” .

“We hope that in the coming days and coming weeks the Iranian leaders will show wisdom to resolve this problem with Great Britain,” he added.

The US, which has already voiced “concern and outrage” over the incident, denied that an unusual exercise involving two US aircraft carrier strike groups in the Gulf was aimed at raising tensions with Iran. — AFP