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Legal proceedings on against captured sailors, says Iran

Atul Aneja

Australia, Japan mediate as tension rises

— PHOTO: AFP

TAKING STOCK: Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett speaks to journalists at the E.U. Foreign Ministers meeting in Bremen, Germany, on Saturday.

DUBAI: Amid growing tensions, legal proceedings have started against the 15 British sailors whom Iran had detained on March 23, a senior Iranian diplomat has said.

In an interview with a Russian television channel, Iran's ambassador to Russia, Gholamreza Ansari, said, "No kind of apology has been received from the British side and as a result, the case has taken on a juridical form.

"If their guilt is really demonstrated, naturally it will result in punishment. I want to underline that legal proceedings have already begun," he said. Mr. Ansari said the British Government had erred by approaching the United Nations Security Council for resolving the issue, instead of addressing it on a bilateral basis.

According to the Iranian version, the 15 sailors were detained because they had trespassed into Iranian waters in the Gulf. However, Britain denies the charge. Responding to the Iranian ambassador's assertions, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said: "I don't think it's helpful to Iran, I don't think it's helpful to our detainees — I think that is not the tone really that I would wish anyone to strike."

As tensions escalate, Britain's allies Australia and Japan held telephone conversations with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. Mr. Mottaki told his Australian counterpart, Alexander Downer, "British leaders should avoid media storms and politicisation to prevent a further complication of the affair."

In a separate conversation with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Sao, Mr. Mottaki said the "British should accept that a violation of Iran's territorial waters has taken place and pledge guarantees it will not happen again."

The detention of the British sailors has taken place after U.S. soldiers in January seized five Iranian personnel from an Iranian facility in northern Iraq. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack rejected the suggestion of a swap between the five detained Iranians and the seized British sailors.

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