UNITED NATIONS, 26 March 2007 — Iran is considering charging 15 British sailors with illegally entering its waters and will discuss their seizure with London today.
“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.
Iran announced its tough stance after British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the captured sailors were not in Iranian waters and told Tehran that Britain viewed their situation as “very serious.”
Speaking at an EU summit in Berlin, Blair said Iran’s claim that the sailors had crossed into Iranian territorial waters “is simply not true.”
“I want to get the situation resolved in as easy and diplomatic a way as possible,” Blair said, but added he hoped the Iranians “understood how fundamental an issue this is for the British government.”
Britain said its diplomats met with Iranian officials in Tehran yesterday where their demand for access to the group was denied after Iran refused to confirm exactly where they were being held.
