Iranian TV shows British sailors

Iranian television has shown footage of British royal navy sailors apparently admitting to illegally entering the country’s waters.

Two of the eight men detained “confessed” to the alleged incursion in a filmed interview by the waterside broadcast yesterday and gave their names as Thomas Hawkins and Chief Petty Officer Robert Webster.

Earlier, the diplomatic crisis over the detention of the eight sailors escalated as they were paraded blindfolded on state-run television.

Downing Street warned Tehran that it expected the men to be treated in accordance with international law after the pictures were broadcast on the official Arab-language Al-Aram station.

A British Foreign Office spokesman said they were “extremely concerned” about the development and would be raising the matter with the Iranians “at the appropriate level”.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw intervened personally with his Iranian counterpart, Kamal Kharazzi, to appeal for the men’s release while the Iranian ambassador was summoned to the British Foreign Office for an explanation.

There were conflicting signals from Tehran over how the authorities intended to deal with the men.

A senior Iranian military spokesman, General Ali Reza Afshar, indicated that they could soon be released.

The men had been taking one of the boats for delivery to the new Iraqi Riverine Patrol Service in Basra when they were stopped. The British MoD said the boats were not armed.

British officials have been anxious to avoid escalating the dispute at a time when relations with Tehran are already strained.

The Iranians were infuriated when Britain helped draft a highly critical resolution of the International Atomic Energy Agency condemning Tehran’s failure to cooperate with international inspections of its nuclear programme.

Tehran accused Britain of caving in to pressure from the US which has long suspected that Iran’s civil nuclear programme is really a cover for developing nuclear weapons.

There were concerns also that the Iranians may be seeking to flex their muscles in advance of the handover of sovereignty in neighbouring Iraq at the end of the month.