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Britain Considering Iranian Demands
Submitted by newscaster on Fri, 03/30/2007 - 05:56.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Britain said it was giving ``serious consideration'' to a message from Iran that appears to propose a new condition for freeing 15 British navy personnel and ending the crisis over their capture without a ``confrontation.'' Britain's Foreign Office told The Associated Press about the Iranian proposal late Thursday, after Britain failed to win U.N. support for a statement deploring Tehran's seizure of the Britons off Iraq's coast last week. ``We can confirm that as reported in the Iranian media, that the Iranian government has sent a formal note to the British Embassy,'' a spokeswoman said. ``Such exchanges are always confidential but we are giving the message serious consideration and will soon respond formally to the Iranian government.'' The spokeswoman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with Foreign Office policy, refused to elaborate. Iran claims the British sailors and marines, part of a Royal Navy force patrolling the Persian Gulf for smugglers, were operating in its waters when captured last Friday. The incident came several months into the escalating standoff between Iran and the United Nations over Tehran's nuclear program. An Iranian news agency reported earlier in the day that Iran's Foreign Ministry sent a message to the British embassy in Tehran calling for a guarantee by London to avoid violating Iranian territorial waters in the future. Until now, Iran has said the matter could only be resolved if Britain admitted its sailors were trespassing. The report came as Britain took its case to the United Nations, asking the Security Council to ``deplore'' Iranian actions and urge the immediate release of the prisoners. But after four hours of private talks, the 15-nation council opted for a softer statement that expressed ``grave concern'' over Iran's actions and called for an early resolution of the dispute. On Saturday the council imposed new sanctions on Iran over its refusal to abandon uranium enrichment, a program that has raised fears Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons. Crude oil prices rose to a new six-month high, above $66 a barrel, on concerns that the tensions with Iran could jeopardize oil exports as U.S. gasoline supplies wane and demand swells. Hours before the council issued its statement, a top Iranian official suggested his country may put the Britons on trial. If Britain continued its current approach, ``this case may face a legal path,'' Ali Larijani, the main negotiator in Iran's foreign dealings, said on state radio. ``British leaders have miscalculated this issue.'' 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 only woman among the Britons. Iran retreated from a pledge by Iranian Foreign Minister Mottaki that the female sailor, Faye Turney, would be released soon. Gen. Ali Reza Afshar, Iran's military chief, blamed the ``wrong behavior'' of the British government. ``The release of a female British soldier has been suspended,'' the semiofficial Iranian news agency Mehr said. But the spokesman for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Iran is willing to reconsider the possible release of the female sailor. Erdogan called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Thursday evening to discuss the captive soldiers, Erdogan's spokesman Akif Beki said. Ahmadinejad told Erdogan Iran was ``willing to reconsider the issue of the release of the woman crewmember,'' Beki said. 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. Britain's Foreign Office insisted again that the navy personnel 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. 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. 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. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett condemned Iran's use of Turney for what she called ``propaganda purposes,'' calling it ``outrageous and cruel.'' 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.'' ************************************************************************ An Iranian view on the stand-off PM warns Iran over Navy captives *QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION What do you think of Iran’s demands that Britain admit their guilt and promise to avoid this type of thing in the future? If Iran is right and the soldiers were actually trespassing, what do you think that Iran is trying to accomplish? If Britain is right, and the soldiers were solidly in Iraqi waters, why do you think that Britain is lying? What is your opinion of the UN response to this incident? *REMEMBER TO BE RESPECTFUL Source: |
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