UK, Iran claim victories The two-week crisis ends as British sailors return home
Friday, April 6, 2007
FIFTEEN British naval personnel returned home yesterday, overjoyed after their surprise release by Iran's president as both countries claimed victory in the two week diplomatic battle.
Having changed back into uniforms from the ill-fitting Iranian suits given to them at the end of their detention, the eight sailors and seven marines applauded as their flight from Tehran landed at London Heathrow airport, Sky television reported.
They got straight off the British Airways jet, lined up for a quick photograph and then boarded a military helicopter that took them to a military base in southwest England for a reunion with their families and a debriefing.
The 14 men and one woman were on two zodiac boats seized by Iranian forces in the northern Gulf on March 23 and accused of illegally entering Iranian territorial waters. Britain insists they were in Iraqi waters.
Both sides came out of the dispute claiming at least a moral victory, with British Prime Minister Tony Blair insisting yesterday that their release had been obtained "without any deal".
Speaking in Downing Street as the jet carrying the Britons landed, Blair highlighted that their return coincided with the deaths of four British soldiers in Iraq, which he said showed the "ugly reality" of terrorism in the region.
The 15 were freed "without any deal, without any negotiation, without any side agreement of any nature whatever," Blair insisted.
"Just as we rejoice at the return of our 15 personnel, so today we also grieve and mourn for the loss of our soldiers in Basra who were killed as a result of a terrorist act," he said.
A top Iranian official said the Islamic state had also "achieved its objectives" in the crisis.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister and now advisor to supreme leader Ali Khamenei, said Britain sent a letter of apology to Iran the day before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the release of the 15.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran showed that it will defend its territorial integrity and has no fear," said Velayati.
"It achieved its objectives in pardoning the British sailors," he was quoted as saying by state television. After demanding an apology from Britain, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced last Wednesday that the captives would be freed as a "gift" to the British people.
During a 90-minute press conference broadcast around the world, Ahmadinejad chided Britain for its "media hype" during the crisis. He decorated a Revolutionary Guards commander who seized the Britons.
Britain was infuriated at the way the only woman captive, Faye Turney, and some of her male colleagues were paraded on Iranian television and shown making apologies that British ministers said appeared coerced. But in a statement last Wednesday, Blair said: "Throughout we have taken a measured approach: firm but calm, not negotiating but not confronting either."
He added: "To the Iranian people I would simply say this: we bear you no ill will." Blair said Britain wanted to settle any disagreements with Iran "peacefully through dialogue."
"I was so happy that I was not able to sleep all night," said Lieutenant Felix Carman, quoted on Iranian state television. "To the Iranian people, I can understand why you were insulted by our apparent intrusion into your waters," he said.AFP
Having changed back into uniforms from the ill-fitting Iranian suits given to them at the end of their detention, the eight sailors and seven marines applauded as their flight from Tehran landed at London Heathrow airport, Sky television reported.
They got straight off the British Airways jet, lined up for a quick photograph and then boarded a military helicopter that took them to a military base in southwest England for a reunion with their families and a debriefing.
The 14 men and one woman were on two zodiac boats seized by Iranian forces in the northern Gulf on March 23 and accused of illegally entering Iranian territorial waters. Britain insists they were in Iraqi waters.
Both sides came out of the dispute claiming at least a moral victory, with British Prime Minister Tony Blair insisting yesterday that their release had been obtained "without any deal".
Speaking in Downing Street as the jet carrying the Britons landed, Blair highlighted that their return coincided with the deaths of four British soldiers in Iraq, which he said showed the "ugly reality" of terrorism in the region.
The 15 were freed "without any deal, without any negotiation, without any side agreement of any nature whatever," Blair insisted.
"Just as we rejoice at the return of our 15 personnel, so today we also grieve and mourn for the loss of our soldiers in Basra who were killed as a result of a terrorist act," he said.
A top Iranian official said the Islamic state had also "achieved its objectives" in the crisis.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a former foreign minister and now advisor to supreme leader Ali Khamenei, said Britain sent a letter of apology to Iran the day before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced the release of the 15.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran showed that it will defend its territorial integrity and has no fear," said Velayati.
"It achieved its objectives in pardoning the British sailors," he was quoted as saying by state television. After demanding an apology from Britain, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced last Wednesday that the captives would be freed as a "gift" to the British people.
During a 90-minute press conference broadcast around the world, Ahmadinejad chided Britain for its "media hype" during the crisis. He decorated a Revolutionary Guards commander who seized the Britons.
Britain was infuriated at the way the only woman captive, Faye Turney, and some of her male colleagues were paraded on Iranian television and shown making apologies that British ministers said appeared coerced. But in a statement last Wednesday, Blair said: "Throughout we have taken a measured approach: firm but calm, not negotiating but not confronting either."
He added: "To the Iranian people I would simply say this: we bear you no ill will." Blair said Britain wanted to settle any disagreements with Iran "peacefully through dialogue."
"I was so happy that I was not able to sleep all night," said Lieutenant Felix Carman, quoted on Iranian state television. "To the Iranian people, I can understand why you were insulted by our apparent intrusion into your waters," he said.AFP
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