Australia issues warning to Iran

Australia has told Iran that taking 15 British sailors and marines hostage could become “increasingly serious” if they were not released immediately, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said today.

Downer revealed that he had a 25-minute telephone conversation on Thursday with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki about Iran’s response to a British patrol boat allegedly straying from Iraqi waters.

“His argument is that the British have to admit their guilt – transgressing into Iranian territorial seas – before any negotiation on the release can take place,” Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.

“I made the point to him that regardless of where the sailors were ... this kind of seizing of the sailors and taking them away into Iran and putting them on television and so on was a completely disproportionate response and risks isolating Iran still further from the bulk of the international community,” Downer said.

Iran should protest the alleged border transgression through diplomatic channels, “not through seizing hostages,” Downer said.“

“This sort of incident ... as I said to the Iranian foreign minister, can blow up into something increasingly serious, so it makes good sense for the Iranians to release the sailors forthwith,” he said.

The European Union yesterday demanded that Iran immediately and unconditionally release the 15, and warned of undefined “appropriate measures” if Tehran does not comply.

Images of the crew have been broadcast on Iranian television, and Iran has released three letters purportedly written by the only woman among the 15 personnel seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guards more than a week ago.