Kidnapped Sailors Crisis Britain Asks EU For Help in Iran Stand-Off
Britain is continuing in its attempts to ramp up international pressure on Iran, which is still holding 15 British sailors it seized near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway last week.
The European Union voiced its support for Britain Friday. "It is clear that a message of solidarity with Great Britain must be sent from here," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the north German city of Bremen.
"The British soldiers should be released immediately and without preconditions," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said.
However some EU ministers voiced reluctance to freeze business ties with Iran, despite reported requests to do so from the United Kingdom. "While we are in complete solidarity with Britain, we have to do everything to build in the necessary brakes so that things don't explode," Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told Deutschlandfunk radio. "We have to be careful that we don't go on outbidding each other with sanctions on Iran and talk of freezing relations."
The latest declaration of support comes a day after the United Nations Security Council issued a measured statement on the crisis, which expressed "grave concern" and called for an early resolution to the problem. Britain failed to win support from the council for a stronger statement that would "deplore" the Iranian detention and call for the sailors' immediate release. The stronger statement was opposed by council members Russia and South Africa.
The British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged patience in dealing with Iran. "I really don't know why the Iranian regime keeps doing this," he said on Friday. "All it does is enhance people's disgust at captured personnel being paraded and manipulated in this way. It doesn't fool anyone. What the Iranians have to realise is that if they continue in this way they will face increasing isolation: the United Nations yesterday, the European Union today." He added that the United Kingdom would be talking to "other key allies" over the weekend.
The Iranian Embassy in London Friday criticized the Security Council for getting involved, saying in an e-mail statement that the Security Council resolution was passed in violation of its own mandate. "This case can and should be settled through bilateral channels," the statement said. "The British government's attempt to engage third parties, including the Security Council, with this case is not helpful."
However the statement also said that Britain was in close contact with the Iranian government to resolve the crisis "in a mutually acceptable manner."
The statement came after earlier signs that Iran was softening its position. The Iranian government sent a formal note to the British embassy in Tehran late Thursday. Instead of asking the UK for a formal apology, the letter is reported to ask Britian to acknowledge its sailors had trespassed into Iranian waters and to promise that such an incident would not happen again.
"Such exchanges are always confidential but we are giving the message serious consideration and will soon respond formally to the Iranian government," said a British government spokeswoman, who did not elaborate on the letter's contents.
New footage
Meanwhile Iran broadcast new footage of three of the sailors on the state-run Arabic-language television channel Al-Alam Friday. "The treatment has been very friendly," one of the sailors, who identified himself as Nathan Thomas Summers, was quoted as saying. "We entered Iranian waters without permission ... I deeply apologize for entering your waters." The footage also showed the sole female sailor, Faye Turney, who has become the public face of the crisis. The third sailor was not identified.
The lastest broadcast comes after Wednesday's Al-Alam footage of the 15 Britons, which showed them sitting in an Iranian boat after their capture and also eating in a brightly-lit room. The segment displayed a letter written by Turney, to her family, which included an admission that the sailors had trespassed into Iranian waters. Later Turney, who was wearing a headscarf, was shown speaking. "They were very friendly and hospitable," she said. "They explained to us why we've been arrested. There was no harm, no aggression."
Turkey, which sees itself as a bridge between the West and the Muslim world, has also launched diplomatic initiatives to resolve the crisis. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Thursday evening to discuss the captive sailors, Erdogan's spokesman Akif Beki said. Turkey has said Iran is willing to reconsider the possible release of Turney.
dgs/ap/reuters
