Beckett asks Iran to return seized military equipment

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has told Iran’s foreign minister that Britain wants Tehran to return the boats and military equipment taken when Iranian naval units seized 15 British sailors and marines in late March.

Mrs Beckett and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki spoke by telephone after the British naval personnel were detained, but they met for the first time today on the sidelines of two international conferences to promote the restoration of stability in Iraq.

Before the meeting, Mrs Beckett told a group of reporters that Britain would like better relations with Iran, but only on a mutual basis.

“There is every reason why there should be a constructive relationship with Iran,” Mrs Beckett said, “but that has to be a two-way street and I’m not sure the Iranians have ever fully realised that.”

The spokesman said the atmosphere of yesterday’s meeting, which lasted about 20 minutes, “was businesslike and it was frank”.

“Both sides agree that a more constructive relationship is in the interests of both countries if both countries want it, and that’s how they left it,” the British spokesman said.

“There’s no plan for any further meetings. Obviously the contacts will continue through the embassies in our two capitals,” the spokesman said.

Mrs Beckett’s talks with Mr Mottaki came amid widespread speculation about a possible meeting between the Iranian minister and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. They exchanged pleasantries at a lunch , but never held substantive talks, though ambassadors from both countries did meet.

During Mrs Beckett’s meeting, she raised a number of points about the seizure of the sailors and marines, which were also included in a diplomatic note that Britain sent to Iran a few days ago, the spokesman said.

The note addressed “issues such as the fact that the boats and the military equipment belonging to the sailors are still in the hands of Iranian authorities and we’d like it back basically,” the spokesman said.

The naval personnel were detained while patrolling for smugglers near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway that has long been a disputed dividing line between Iraq and Iran.

Britain insists that the service members were in Iraqi waters. Iran maintains they were in Iranian waters. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad freed the 14 men and one woman on April 4, calling their release “a gift to Britain”.