Sun 25 Mar 2007 A file photo of a British patrol boat conducting a patrol in the Shatt al-Arab waterways of Basra, south of Baghdad, February 15, 2007. The British envoy to Tehran on Sunday requested access to 15 detained British naval personnel who Iran says entered Iranian waters illegally despite Britain's insistence they were in Iraqi territory, a diplomat said. REUTERS/British Royal Marines/Crown Copyright/Handout
Iran considers charges against sailors
By David Clarke
BERLIN (Reuters) - Iran said on Sunday it was considering charging 15 British sailors and marines with illegally entering its waters, but added it may give consular access to them after an investigation.
Prime Minister Tony Blair denied the navy personnel had been in Iranian waters and said Tehran should be under no illusion how seriously Britain considers the detentions.
The incident raised tensions that were already high with the West over Tehran's nuclear programme. The U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on Iran on Saturday. London and Washington have also accused Tehran of fomenting violence in Iraq.
"This is a very serious situation and there is no doubt at all that these people were taken from a boat in Iraqi waters," Blair told reporters at a European Union summit in Berlin.
Iran captured the 15 Royal Navy personnel at the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which marks the southern stretch of Iraq's border with Iran, in the Gulf on Friday.
"The charge against them is the illegal entrance into Iranian waters and this issue is being considered legally," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters at the United Nations.
An Iranian official said Mottaki told Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett in a telephone call that Iran may give British diplomats access to the detained sailors at some later stage.
Britain said two boatloads of Royal Navy sailors and marines had searched a merchant vessel on a U.N.-approved mission in Iraqi waters when Iranian gunboats encircled and captured them.
Beckett told Mottaki the personnel should be released.
"She made it very clear that our personnel were operating in Iraqi waters," a British foreign office spokesman said. "She called for their safe return and asked for immediate consular access".
No immediate timetable for further contacts was established.
"They should not be under any doubt at all about how seriously we regard this act, which was unjustified and wrong," Blair said in his first statement since the sailors were seized.
Unlike the United States, Britain has diplomatic relations with Iran. Blair had initially refrained from commenting publicly on the capture to avoid raising the stakes with Tehran.
The Iranian government says the sailors strayed into its territory and foreign ministry official Ebrahim Rahimpour said Tehran had tried to remain patient over border violations.
"But violations, incidents and contradictory remarks of British officials after each incident have created reactions among (Iranian) people and officials," Rahimpour said, according to the official IRNA news agency on Sunday.
"This has led us to more and more precise investigations in regards to these suspicious incidents," he was quoted as saying.
CONSULAR ACCESS
The incident sent oil prices to a three-month high on Friday. It took place a day after Iran launched a week of naval war games along its coast, including the Gulf's northern reaches which give access to the oil output of Iraq, Iran and Kuwait.
Blair said it was "simply not true" the British forces had entered Iranian territorial waters. "The quicker it is resolved, the easier it will be for all of us," he said.
Britain's Ambassador Geoffrey Adams met Rahimpour on Sunday and requested access to the captured sailors, a British diplomat in Tehran told Reuters.
"Iranian officials in charge are following up this issue," Iran's Rahimpour said later.
Iranian television reported the meeting, without giving details. It said the British envoy had been summoned.
Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported on Saturday the 15 sailors and marines had been transferred to Tehran. This has not been independently confirmed.
(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair and Frederick Dahl in Tehran, Jeremy Lovell in London)
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''The Australian'' has reported that an internet website "run by associates of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad" states that the 15 British sailors who were arrested by Iranian Revolutionary Guards could face charges of espionage. The source website for this claim remains unknown; however, ''Rajanews.com'', a news website run by some of supporters of Ahmadinejad said on their website: "If the charges of espionage is brought against them the result would be heavy punishment by current law."

"If it is proven that they deliberately entered Iranian territory, they will be charged with espionage. If that is proven, they can expect a very serious penalty since according to Iranian law, espionage is one of the most serious offenses," said the news report which also called the sailors "insurgents." Individuals who are tried and found guilty of espionage or spying would be penalized by death, according to Iranian law.
An inflatable British patrol boat similar to the two seized by Iran on March 23, 2007. (File photo: Patrol boat assigned to HMS ''Cardiff'' seen in Iraq in 2002)
The Iranian government initially gave the position of the incident as being ''outside'' Iranian territorial waters. General Alireza Afshar, Iran's top military general, then stated that the sailors were engaged "in illegal and suspicious activities" inside Iranian waterways at the time of their detention and that the sailors "have admitted to violating the territorial waters of the Islamic republic". After the UK queried the statement by General Alireza Afshar, the Iranian government gave a revised position for the incident, now placing it ''inside'' Iranian territorial waters.

Reports also say that the sailors are being held until five Iranian guards, detained in Iraq by the United States early in 2007, are released to the Iranian government.



"As soon as the corps’s five members are released, the Britons can go home," an unnamed source close to the command of Qods Force, who also said that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei approved of the trade off.

The sailors and marines, from the frigate , had been inspecting, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1723, a ship that was believed to be smuggling cars into Iraq, though it was subsequently cleared after inspection when Iranian gunboats surrounded the sailors and arrested them at gunpoint.

Reports also say that the sailors were taken to the Iranian capital of Tehran where they are allegedly going to appear before a court. It is not known when they will appear before the court in Iran or when the hearing will be held.

As a result of the detention of the sailors, the United Kingdom has activated their "", which is Britain's crisis management team as the U.K. denies that the sailors were in Iranian waters. Tony Blair, the U.K.'s Prime Minister, calls the situation "unjustified and wrong."

"This is a very serious situation and there is no doubt at all that these people were taken from a boat in Iraqi waters. I hope the Iranian government understands how fundamental an issue this is for us. They should not be under any doubt at all about how seriously we regard this act, which was unjustified and wrong. It is simply not true that they went into Iranian territorial waters," Blair claimed during a news conference today who also stated that the situation could be resolved within the next couple of days.

"The quicker it is resolved, the easier it will be for all of us," added Blair.

In a press release March 25,  Minister  stated, "We've been insisting that the sailors should be released immediately - there is no reason to hold them - that they should be released unharmed and that we should be in a position to assure their families that they are in good health and that they're safe."

Triesman indicated that meetings have taken place with Iranian officials over the release of the seized British sailors, and that "they're delicate discussions."