Iran 'to charge British sailors'

BBC | June 22 2004

Iran is to prosecute eight UK sailors detained for illegally entering its territorial waters, state-run TV quotes military sources as saying.

Three British naval craft and crews were seized on Monday in the Shatt al-Arab waterway near the Iraqi border.

Al-Alam TV said the men had admitted entering Iranian territory, and were a kilometre across the marine border.

Iran's ambassador to London has been summoned to the British Foreign Office to explain the detentions.

"The ambassador was asked to explain why the eight are being held, for their release as soon as possible and for full consular access to them meanwhile," a Foreign Office spokesman said.

British embassy officials have not been told where the men are being held or by whom. Their request for immediate consular access has so far met with no response.

Iranian interrogators have been questioning the eight men, who the British defence ministry says were part of a Royal Navy training team delivering a boat from the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr to Basra.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said the boats were being used to train the Iraqi river patrol service, and may have strayed across the maritime border by mistake.

Tuesday morning saw British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw hold a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Kamal Kharazzi.

BBC Tehran correspondent Jim Muir says the two men have a good personal relationship after numerous meetings in the past.

He adds that there is no information yet about what came out of that conversation.

Tense relations

The incident comes at a time of strained relations between the two countries.

Iranian hardliners have staged a series of angry demonstrations outside the British embassy in Tehran in recent weeks to protest at the occupation of Iraq.

Britain has also been strongly criticised too for its role in helping draft a tough resolution on Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna last week.

Iranian television has been showing pictures of the men, dressed in military fatigues, sitting on sofas and armchairs in what was obviously an office, although there was no indication of its location.

They looked serious but were clearly unharmed.

The television report said weapons and maps were confiscated from the men after they were apprehended.

The Ministry of Defence says the three small patrol boats were unarmed but the sailors were carrying personal weapons.