WORLD / Middle East
UN urges resolution of Iran seizure
(AP)
Updated: 2007-03-30 08:21
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]
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council expressed "grave concern"
Thursday over Iran's seizure of 15 British sailors and marines and called
for an early resolution of the escalating dispute, but Iran's chief
international negotiator suggested the captives might be put on trial.
The council's statement wasn't as tough as Britain had hoped, though, and
the divide seemed to deepen.
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As the standoff drove world oil prices to new six-month highs, Turkey,
NATO's only Muslim member, reportedly sought to calm tensions by urging
Iran to let a Turkish diplomat meet with the detainees and to free the
lone woman among the Britons.
Tensions had seemed to be cooling a day earlier, but after Iran offended
leaders by airing a video of the prisoners and Britain touched a nerve in
Tehran by seeking U.N. help, positions hardened even more Thursday.
Iran retreated from a pledge by Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki that the
female sailor, Faye Turney, would be released soon. Mottaki then repeated
that the matter could be resolved if Britain admitted its sailors
mistakenly entered Iranian territorial waters last Friday.
Britain's Foreign Office insisted again that the sailors and marines were
seized in an Iraqi-controlled area while searching merchant ships under a
U.N. mandate and said no admission of error would be made.
With Britain taking its case to the United Nations, Ali Larijani, the top
Iranian negotiator in all his country's foreign dealings, went on Iranian
state radio to issue a warning.
He said that if Britain continued its current approach, "this case may
face a legal path" -- a clear reference to Iran prosecuting the sailors
and marines in court. "British leaders have miscalculated this issue," he
said.
Gen. Ali Reza Afshar, Iran's military chief, blamed the backtracking on
releasing the British woman on "wrong behavior" by her government. "The
release of a female British soldier has been suspended," the semiofficial
Iranian news agency Mehr said.
The Security Council's statement was a watered-down version of a stronger
draft sought by Britain to "deplore" Iranian actions and urge the
immediate release of the prisoners, primarily because Russia and South
Africa opposed putting blame on the Tehran regime, diplomats said.
Russia also objected to the council adopting Britain's position that its
sailors were operating in Iraqi waters when they were captured, the
diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
With agreement required from all 15 members for a statement's wording,
the parties spent more than four hours in private talks before emerging
with wording softer than had been sought by Britain, which is also known
as the United Kingdom.
"Members of the Security Council expressed grave concern at the capture
by the Revolutionary Guard and the continuing detention by the government
of Iran of 15 United Kingdom naval personnel and appealed to the
government of Iran to allow consular access in terms of the relevant
international laws," the statement said.
"Members of the Security Council support calls including by the
secretary-general in his March 29 meeting with the Iranian foreign
minister for an early resolution of this problem including the release of
the 15 U.K. personnel."
South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said negotiations were needed to
ensure the statement focused on the agreed facts. "There is no political
twisting of anything that happened," he said.
British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry expressed satisfaction with the
statement and said he hoped it would send "the right message" to the
Iranian government that it should provide immediate access to the
prisoners and bring their prompt release.
Earlier, Iranian state television reported what was believed to be
Ahmadinejad's first comment on the standoff, saying he accused Britain of
using propaganda rather than trying to solve the matter quietly through
diplomatic channels.
Iran's state TV also said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip had
contacted Ahmadinejad seeking permission for a Turkish diplomat to meet
with the seized Britons and urging the release of Turney, the female
sailor.
Erdogan's move was seen as a possible opening to mediation in the faceoff
because Turkey is one of the few countries that has good relations with
both Iran and the West.
The report said Ahmadinejad promised that Erdogan's appeal would be
studied, but also told the Turkish leader that the detention case had
entered a legal investigation phase.
State television also broadcast a video it said showed show the operation
that seized the British sailors and marines. In the clip, a helicopter
hovers above inflatable boats in choppy seas, then the Royal Navy crews
are seen seated in an Iranian vessel.
The video came a day after Iran broadcast a longer video showing the
Britons in captivity. That video included a segment showing Turney saying
her team had "trespassed" in Iranian waters.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett condemned Iran's use of Turney
for what she called "propaganda purposes," calling it "outrageous and
cruel."
The Iranians released a letter Wednesday purportedly written by Turney to
her family saying the British sailors were in Iranian waters. And the
video aired Thursday showed another letter supposedly by Turney to
Britain's Parliament calling for British troops to leave Iraq.
"I ask the representatives of the House of Commons, after the government
promised that this kind of incident wouldn't happen again, why did they
let this occur, and why has the government not been questioned over
this," the letter read. "Isn't it time to start withdrawing our forces
from Iraq and let them determine their own future?"
Some experts raised questions about that letter, saying its wording
hinted it was first composed in Farsi and then translated into English.
"It's obviously been dictated to her," said Nadim Shehadi, an expert on
Iran at the Chatham House think tank in London. "There's no way she would
phrase it like that."
Beckett said there were "grave concerns about the circumstances in which
it was prepared and issued."
"This blatant attempt to use Leading Seaman Turney for propaganda
purposes is outrageous and cruel," Beckett said.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain wanted to resolve
the crisis quickly and without having a "confrontation over this."
"We are not seeking to put Iran in a corner. We are simply saying,
'Please release the personnel who should not have been seized in the
first place,'" said the spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in
line with government policy.
But in a briefing to reporters, the spokesman said British officials had
been angered by Tehran's decision to show video of the captives.
"Nobody should be put in that position. It is an impossible position to
be put in," he said. "It is wrong. It is wrong in terms of the usual
conventions that cover this. It is wrong in terms of basic humanity."
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