The "stage-managed" appearances of detained British sailors on Iranian
television would not affect Britain's demand for an unconditional release, Prime
Minister Tony Blair's spokesman said yesterday.
"The Iranians know our position. They know that stage-managed TV appearances
aren't going to affect that position. They know that we have strong
international support," the spokesman said at a briefing.
"We remained very clear in our position and what our objective was, and we
would judge our response day to day accordingly," he said.
He said that there was "a lot going on behind the scenes" to secure the
release of 15 sailors seized by Iran in the northern Gulf waters more than a
week ago, including increased "international awareness and pressure" on Iran.
On Thursday, the U.N. Security Council in a statement called for early
solution of the 15 British sailors detained by Iran. And on Friday, the EU
issued a statement in Berlin, calling on the Iranian government to release the
detained British sailors immediately.
Asked if Britain had plans to go back to the United Nations or the European
Union, he said that what happened next depended on the Iranian response.
On Sunday, Iran's state-run Arabic satellite television Al-Alam aired new
footage of two detained British naval servicemen.
The two British naval personnel were shown separately in two video clips,
both pointing to a big map of the northern Gulf waters. They were talking in
front of the camera, but their voices could not be heard.
Al-Alam TV said they "have confessed" to entering Iranian waters "illegally"
while on an inspection mission, adding the captured sailors had said that they
were treated well.
The two are among the 15 British naval personnel who were seized on March 23
by Iranian forces when they were patrolling off the Iraqi borders.
Iran has insisted that the British boats illegally entered its territorial
waters. But Britain said its soldiers were in Iraqi territorial waters.
British Foreign Office condemned the new footage aired by Iran, saying it was
"unacceptable".
