Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair "very much exaggerated" Iran's role in supporting al Qaida insurgents in their attacks on British and American forces in Iraq, a former ambassador to Tehran said today.

IRAN’S new ambassador to Ireland led his country’s charge against Britain’s decision to grant author Salman Rushdie a knighthood earlier this year.

Fifteen British sailors and marines released by Iran after nearly two weeks in captivity have flown out of a Tehran airport today aboard a commercial flight bound for London.

IRAN and Britain stepped up the pressure over 15 detained British soldiers yesterday, with Iranian state TV reporting the Foreign Ministry had protested their ‘illegal’ incursion to the British ambassador.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador today to protest what at it called the “illegal entry” of British sailors into Iranian waters, state TV reported.