Britain Appeals to UN
March 29, 2007
A draft statement distributed to Security Council members and calling for the "immediate release" of the eight sailors and seven marines was to be discussed at the UN headquarters, said Dumisani Kumalo, the South African envoy who is currently the Security Council chairman.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also spoke to Iran's foreign minister about the crisis at an Arab summit in Saudi Arabia.
The draft "deplored" the continued detention of the British personnel and noted that they were in Iraqi waters when they were seized at gunpoint last Friday by the Iranian navy.
Controversial border
The 15 Britons were on a patrol in the Shatt al-Arab waterway on March 23 when they were detained after inspecting a merchant vessel. Iran said the group had trespassed in Iranian waters.
Britain's UN envoy said Iran had changed the GPS coordinates of two British boats carrying the Britains to make it appear they were in Iranian waters.
"It was only when we point out that the detention (of the 15) was inappropriate and in our view unlawful that the coordinates were then changed by the Iranian government to be coordinates within Iranian waters," British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said.
Iran reneges on freeing sole female
As the British government sought to ratchet up diplomatic pressure, Ali Larijani, head of Iran's supreme national security council, said a female sailor among the captives, Faye Turney, would not be released because of Britain's "incorrect" attitude.
"It was announced that a woman in the group would be freed, but (this development) was met with an incorrect attitude. Naturally, (the release) will be suspended and it will not take place," Larijani said on state television.
His announcement came a day after London said it was freezing ties with Iran.
Larijani, who is also Iran's chief negotiator in its nuclear dispute with western powers, also threatened to pursue a "legal path" in the crisis, which has caused global concerns and sent oil prices to six month highs.
"Instead of sending a technical team to examine the problem, they kicked up a media storm, announced a freeze in relations and spoke about the Security Council. That will not resolve the problem. They have miscalculated."
Iranian state television on Wednesday broadcast footage of Turney and her 14 colleagues, in which she said the group had strayed into Iranian waters. The film provoked a furious reaction in the British government which suspects she spoke under duress.
The footage showed the Britons having a meal and featured the 26-year-old Turney wearing a black headscarf.
"Obviously we trespassed in the waters," she said. "They were friendly, very hospitable, very thoughtful. Nice people," she said of her captors.
Access denied
The British embassy in Tehran said it still had no news about the location of the sailors and had not been able to visit them.
"We have no information for the moment about a consular visit with the 15 sailors and the release of Faye Turney," a British diplomat told AFP.
"Ambassador Geoffrey Adams has asked for another visit with foreign ministry officials. We are awaiting a response."
The crisis erupted at a time of high international tensions over Iran's controversial nuclear program which the West fears could be a cover for ambitions to build atomic weapons.