Iran and Britain seek way out of crisis over detainees

Iran and Britain have signalled possible movement toward ending the stand-off over 15 detained British sailors and Marines.

Tehran promised to stop airing video confessions and London said it was willing to discuss ways to avoid boundary confusion in the Persian Gulf.

The quieter tone from both capitals yesterday raised hopes the 11-day stand-off might be solved soon. But optimistic signs emerged before, only to be followed by a hardening of positions and tough rhetoric.

Iran’s chief international negotiator, Ali Larijani, said his country wanted to resolve the crisis through diplomacy and added that he saw no need to put the crew on trial. He had suggested last week the captives might be tried for allegedly intruding into Iranian waters.

Iran’s priority “is to solve the problem through proper diplomatic channels,” Mr Larijani said. “We are not interested in letting this issue get further complicated.”

The British government responded to Mr Larijani by saying that both it and Iran had a “shared desire to make early progress” in resolving the dispute.

“There remain some differences between us, but we can confirm we share his preference for early bilateral discussions to find a diplomatic solution to this problem,” a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

Yesterday, an Iranian state-run television station said all 15 of the detained Royal Navy personnel had confessed to illegally entering Iranian waters before they were captured.

However, Iranian state-run radio said the confessions would not be broadcast because of what it called “positive changes” in the negotiating stance of Britain, whose leaders have been angered by the airing of videos of the captives.

The eight sailors and seven Marines were detained on March 23 by naval units of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards while the Britons patrolled for smugglers near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway that has long been a disputed dividing line between Iraq and Iran.

Iran says the team was in Iranian waters. Britain insists it was in Iraqi waters working under a UN mandate.

Iran has previously demanded an apology from Britain as a condition for the sailors’ release.

Echoing an Iranian politician, Mr Larijani suggested a British delegation visit Tehran “to review the case, to clarify the case, first of all – to clarify whether they have been in our territorial waters at all”.