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Saturday, Mar 31, 2007
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International

Fresh video of captive sailor angers Britain

Atul Aneja

U.N. expresses concern over Iran's action

— PHOTO: AP

VOCAL SUPPORT: An Iranian cleric chants slogans during a demonstration in support of the capturing of 15 British sailors and marines, after Friday prayers in Tehran.

DUBAI: Tensions between Iran and Britain over the seizure of British sailors are rising, with the release of a fresh video of a captured soldier.

Footage released by Iranian authorities shows Nathan Thomas Summers, a crew member, apologising for entering Iranian waters. "We trespassed... I would just like to apologise for entering your waters without permission," he said.

Iranian personnel last week detained 15 British sailors after they had disembarked from a merchant ship, which they were inspecting, in the Gulf waters. While Britain maintains that its sailors were in Iraqi waters, and were engaged in a U.N.-mandated mission, Tehran has been maintaining that the sailors were seized because they had intruded into Iranian waters.

The incident has led to a war of words between Britain and Iran. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said "parading" the crew in this way would only "enhance people's sense of disgust with Iran." British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett called the newly released footage as "quite appalling" and "blatant propaganda."

"Media story"

However, the head of Iran's National Security Council, Ali Larijani, accused London of turning the incident into a "political and media story". "It is strange how the British Government has embarked on turning the issue into a political and media story instead of conducting technical and specialised studies on it. We are not living in the Stone Age; there exist some advanced GPS systems which could verify the trespassing."

He said, "We were keen on solving the issue through diplomatic and bilateral means, but if the Britons are not eager to try this path, then there is no problem, we will pursue the case through the legal path."

In an interview to the Saudi Arabia-based daily Al-Riyadh, which appeared on Friday, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said an official apology from Britain would be a first step to resolve the issue.

He claimed that the GPS coordinates taken from the British boats showed the arrests had been made in Iranian territorial waters.

At the United Nations, Russia has intervened to dilute a Security Council statement on the incident.

The statement voices "grave concern" at Iran's actions and calls upon Tehran to provide Britain consular access to the detenus. However, it stops short of "deploring" Iran's action as demanded by London.

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