United States President George Bush on Saturday night called for the release of the 15 British sailors and royal marines being held by Iran, denouncing their capture as ”inexcusable behaviour”.
Commenting for the first time on the issue, Bush told a press conference at Camp David: ”Iran must give back the hostages. They’re innocent, they did nothing wrong.” He also declared support for British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s efforts to find a diplomatic resolution.
However, he would not discuss options for what might be done if Iran does not comply and he rejected any possibility of swapping the British captives for Iranians detained in Iraq. His remarks came after Britain offered a diplomatic olive branch to Iran earlier in the day to try to secure an early release of the prisoners. Hopes were dashed, however, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denounced London’s handling of the ongoing crisis.
In his first statement on the arrest of the crew, he told a rally marking the Persian New Year that Britain should have ”apologised and expressed regret” but had failed to act ”in the legal and logical way”. The crowd shouted ”Death to Britain”, Iranian media reports said.
Ahmadinejad added: ”The British occupier forces did trespass our waters. Our border guards detained them with skill and bravery.”
The comments were reported hours after Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett — in what aides termed a ”step back” from confrontation — told an Iranian television reporter ”everyone regretted” the crisis had been allowed to develop. A ”way out” should be found, she said.
As friends of one of the captives showed their concern by draping yellow ribbons over the Cornwall pub where he used to work, Downing Street suggested the crisis was finely balanced. Blair was said to remain determined to press for the immediate release of the hostages, but also to recognise that ”we may be in this for the long haul”.
Officials were at pains to say Beckett’s use of the word ”regret” in her remarks, made after a European Union ministers’ meeting in Germany, should not be seen as an apology, or as a retreat from Britain’s insistence the sailors were ”in Iraqi waters, under a UN mandate” and must be unconditionally freed.
Asked by the Iranian reporter if she had a message for Iran, she said: ”The message I want to send is that I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen.
”What we want is a way out of it. We want it peacefully and we want it as soon as possible.”
The Foreign Office source said: ”For the last couple of days we have been toe-to-toe and nose-to-nose. This is a small step back, to give people a little space and to see whether we get anything substantive from the Iranians.”
The Foreign Office also confirmed it had replied to a letter from Iran’s Foreign Ministry. The Iranian letter did not ask for an apology, only a future ”guarantee” not to enter Iranian waters. The British reply was apparently aimed at seeing whether that might provide a window for a diplomatic solution.
In separate developments on Saturday, Downing Street was passed evidence purporting to show that the arrest of the British sailors was planned days in advance. Hossein Abedini, spokesperson for the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran, said the arrests were a ”meticulously concocted operation” to divert attention from Iran’s nuclear programme.
But the Ministry of Defence hinted for the first time it may have made mistakes surrounding the incident. An inquiry has been commissioned to explore ”navigational” issues around the kidnapping and aspects of maritime law. – Guardian Unlimited Â