US committee demands release of captured British sailors

The Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House of Representatives is demanding that Iran release 15 British service personnel captured last week in contested Persian Gulf waters.

Republican Rep. Mark Kirk, co-chairman of the House’s Iran Working Group, said: “The government of Iran has once again ignored international law by seizing sailors in waters outside their jurisdiction.”

The committee approved a resolution yesterday that Kirk introduced with his co-chairman, Democratic Rep. Robert Andrews.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry has insisted the Britons were operating in Iranian waters, while Britain insists they were in Iraqi waters when they finished a routine search of a civilian vessel.

The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines were part of a task force that protects Iraqi oil terminals and maintains security in Iraqi waters under authority of the UN Security Council.

The White House says the Bush administration was monitoring events.