Iran says that the Britons have Confess to Entering Iranian Waters Illegally

Conflict Comes as U.N. Security Council Prepares to Vote on Further Sanctions . By William Branigin, Mary Jordan and Robin WrightWashington Post Staff Writers



Commodore Nick Lambert, commander of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Cornwall, speaks aboard his ship Friday March 23, 2007in this image made from television. Iranian naval vessels seized 15 British sailors from HMS Cornwall, who had boarded a merchant ship in Iraqi waters of the Persian Gulf as part of efforts to protect the Iraqi coastline and its oil terminals, U.S. and British officials Friday March 23, 2007. The British government summoned the Iranian ambassador in London and demanded "the immediate and safe return of our people and equipment." The U.S. Navy, which operates off the Iraqi coast along with British forces, said Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval forces were responsible.(AP Photo/AP Television News) (AP)


Saturday, The Iranian military asserted today that British naval personnel captured in the Persian Gulf "confessed" to entering Iranian waters illegally after being transferred to Tehran for interrogation, an Iranian news agency reported. But Britain insisted that its 15 sailors and marines were seized in Iraqi waters and demanded their immediate release.There was no immediate independent confirmation of the Iranian claim that the British detainees had admitted entering Iran's territorial waters in the northern part of the gulf, and the two sides issued conflicting statements citing proof from satellite positioning systems.The standoff came as the U.N. Security Council prepared to vote this afternoon on a resolution imposing further sanction on Iran because of its nuclear program. The proposed resolution requires Iran to halt its programs to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel within 60 days or face additional penalties. It would also ban Iranian arms sales and freeze the assets of 28 Iranian individuals and entities, including several commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iranian news media reported that a Revolutionary Guard naval force carried out the capture of the 15 Britons Friday morning in the Shatt al-Arab waterway in the northern Gulf. State-run news agencies did not quote any officials as linking the seizure with the U.N. Security Council action or any other issues. However, hard-line Iranian student groups called on the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not to release the 15 until U.S forces freed five Iranians captured in Iraq earlier this year and the U.N. Security Council dropped plans for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. About 500 Iranian students gathered on the shore of the Shatt al-Arab and shouted slogans such as "Death to Britain" and "Death to America," the Fars News Agency reported. In Tehran, Ali Reza Afshar, a senior military spokesman, said the 15 "have confessed that they have aggressed against the waters of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the news agency said. It identified Afshar as "manager of the cultural and defensive propaganda division" of the general staff of the Iranian armed forces. Two other Iranian news agencies also quoted Afshar as saying the Britons "are being interrogated and have confessed to aggression into [Iranian] waters." The Fars News Agency earlier reported that the eight British sailors and seven Royal Marines, including one female marine, were transferred to Tehran today to "provide more explanations" of their actions. A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, charged that the British had made an "illegal and interventionist" incursion into Iranian waters in a "suspicious move" that violated international commitments, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. He said Iran was conducting "further investigation of the blatant aggression." According to the Iranians, global positioning devices carried by the British proved that they were on the Iranian side of the Shatt al-Arab, which Iran calls the Arvand River, when they were seized. However, British officials said there was no doubt that the sailors and marines were in Iraqi waters, where they had just completed a routine inspection of an Iraqi merchant ship for possible smuggling. The officials said the 15 were on their way back to the HMS Cornwall in two rigid inflatable boats when the Iranians raced out, seized them and took them to the Iranian side of the waterway. The Cornwall is a frigate that helps patrol the Persian Gulf, along with U.S. Navy ships, under a U.N. Security Council mandate. In London, the Foreign Office summoned Iran's ambassador to a meeting today to demand the immediate release of the captured Britons. The European Union also called for the "immediate liberation" of the captured sailors and marines. U.S. and Western officials said the 15 may have been seized in reprisal for the U.S. detention of five Iranian Revolutionary Guard operatives during a January raid of the Iranian government's liaison office in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil. The five, picked up as part of an intensifying U.S. effort to counter Iran's growing influence in Iraq, were members of the elite al-Quds Brigade that officials said has been deeply involved in arming and aiding Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq. Iran has been demanding their release publicly and in private meetings, including at the first conference of Iraq's neighbors in Baghdad on March 10, a senior U.S. official said Friday. Two other al-Quds members had been picked up by the United States in Baghdad in December, but were released after a formal request by the Iraqi government. Iran's Revolutionary Guard naval corps, which carried out Friday's capture, operates separately from Iran's navy. The Revolutionary Guards Corps is the hard-line wing of Iran's multifaceted military and security services. British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Friday that Britain had left Iran "in no doubt that we expect the immediate and safe return of our personnel." Other Western capitals have also weighed in with Iran, and the incident was discussed Friday on the margins of U.N. talks on a new punitive resolution against Iran for failing to suspend uranium enrichment. Enriched uranium can be used for both peaceful nuclear energy as well as a weapons program. U.S. officials said they believe Iran's move was calculated to get something in return. "This was deliberate, no kidding. Anyone with six working brain cells understands that. The Iranians raced in and seized these guys and raced back," said a senior U.S. official who requested anonymity because of the sensitive diplomacy. "The Iranians are under significant worldwide pressure over their failure to comply with demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency and now the U.N. Security Council. The radicals are particularly under enormous pressure." In 2004, eight British servicemen were held for three days after their boats strayed into Iranian waters. They were freed after being blindfolded, interrogated, and forced to read apologies on Iranian TV. Some of the sensitive British equipment from 2004 has not been returned, British officials say. Commodore Nick Lambert, the commander of the Cornwall, told the BBC Friday that he hoped the latest detention was the result of a "simple mistake" over the border between Iran and Iraq.
"There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they were in Iraqi territorial waters. Equally, the Iranians may claim they were in Iranian waters," Lambert said. "I hope we find this is a simple misunderstanding at the tactical level."