TEHRAN, 31 March 2007 — Iran aired television footage yesterday of a British sailor “confessing” to trespassing in Iranian waters, further escalating the diplomatic furor over Tehran’s capture of 15 navy personnel.
Britain, which failed to win strong UN Security Council condemnation of Iran over the detention of its 15 sailors and Marines, vowed it would work to further isolate the Islamic republic over the crisis.
Prime Minister Tony Blair voiced his “disgust” at the latest broadcast of the captive Britons and Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said she saw no sign that Iran was seeking to solve the crisis. “We’ve got to pursue this with the necessary firmness and determination but also patience,” Blair said. “The most important thing is to make sure that our people are returned safe.”
But Tehran has so far refused to bow to mounting international pressure to release the 14 men and one woman seized in the northern Gulf a week ago and now being held in a secret location.
Britain insists they were on a routine anti-smuggling patrol in Iraqi waters but Iran says they were in its territorial waters.
“I would like to apologize for entering your waters without any permission,” the Royal Navy serviceman identified as Nathan Thomas Sommers said in an interview broadcast on Arabic-language Al-Alam television.
“Since we have been arrested in Iran our treatment has been very friendly, they took care of us very well.” The interview was interspersed with images of the sailor sitting with two of his captured colleagues, including the only woman Faye Turney, smiling, and with bowls of fruit and flowers in front of them.
In the first footage of the group aired on Wednesday, Turney was also shown saying that they had trespassed into Iranian waters. “Using our military personnel for purposes of propaganda like this is outrageous,” Britain’s Foreign Office said. Britain has already frozen most ties with Iran, a move Tehran blamed for its decision not to free Turney as promised earlier this week.
