UK rejects demand to admit trespassing
(AP)Updated: 2007-03-29 17:21
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Britain on Thursday rejected a demand by Iran's foreign minister that it admit its 15 sailors and marines entered Iranian waters in order to resolve a standoff over their capture.
 Faye Turney, 26, left, the only woman amongst the British navy personnel seized by Iran, and an unidentified sailor eat a meal, in this image made from television, in footage broadcast by Al-Alam, an Arabic-language, Iranian state-run television station, in Tehran, Wednesday March 28, 2007. [AP]  |
Ban's spokeswoman, Soung-Ah Choi, said the UN secretary-general was addressing a number of issues in the talks and that the detention of the Britons was among them. She would not give immediate details on the talks, which were still ongoing.
Ban and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki were both attending a summit of Arab leaders in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
A day earlier, Mottaki said Britain should admit its Royal Navy crew was in Iranian waters off the Iraqi coast when they were seized last week. It was the first time Tehran has raised a possible way to resolve the stand-off, but Britain quickly rejected any admission.
Since the crew's detention, Britain has insisted they were in Iraqi waters. A Foreign Office official in London said Thursday that no admission would be forthcoming because "the detention is completely wrong, illegal and unacceptable and we've set out the reasons why."
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with department policy, pointed to the satellite positioning coordinates released by the Defense Ministry on Wednesday that the military said showed the crew was seized 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters.
Tensions over the detention escalated Wednesday as Iranian television showed video of the detained Britons that showed the only female captive saying her group had "trespassed" in Iranian waters. Britain angrily denounced the video as unacceptable and froze most dealings with the Mideast nation.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Mottaki also backed off a prediction that the female sailor, Faye Turney, could be freed Wednesday or Thursday, but said Tehran agreed to allow British officials to meet with the detainees.
He said that Iran will look into releasing Turney "as soon as possible."
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."
Mottaki said Iran had GPS devices from the seized British boats that showed they were in Iranian territory.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government announced Wednesday 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.
At the United Nations in New York, Britain asked the Security Council to support a call for the immediate release of detainees, saying in a statement they were operating in Iraqi waters under a mandate from the Security Council and at the request of Iraq, according to council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the text was not released. The issue was expected to be debated Thursday.
Earlier Wednesday, a brief video of the captured Britons was shown on Iran's Arabic language 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.
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