Pat for sailors, as Iran calls for British goodwill gesture
Sunday, April 8, 2007
BRITISH newspapers yesterday praised the conduct in captivity of 15 British sailors freed by Iran, but Tehran called on London to respond to the release with a goodwill gesture of its own.
Most national dailies carried the group's detailed testimony on their front pages, the day after they made the first public statement about their 13-day detention for allegedly breaching Iran's territorial waters.
Prominent was an account by Royal Marine Joe Tindell, 21, who told how, blindfolded and their hands bound, the group at one point thought they were about to be executed and that he believed one had had his throat cut.
The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines were seized as they carried out what they said were routine anti-smuggling operations near the Shatt al-Arab waterway that divides Iraq and Iran on March 23.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last Wednesday he was releasing the 15 as a "gift" to the British people. They returned to Britain last Thursday and have since been debriefed and medically asssessed.
As the 14 men and one woman began two weeks' compassionate leave with their families, Tehran's ambassador to London said in an interview published Saturday that Britain should respond in kind to his country's actions.
Rasoul Movahedian told the Financial Times that Tehran wanted London's help in releasing five Iranians held in Iraq and on easing international fears about its controversial nuclear programme.
"We played our part and we showed our good will," he told the business daily. "Now it is up to the British government to proceed in a positive way."
He denied Ahmadinejad's announcement was linked to the case of the Iranians detained in Iraq or the release last Monday in Baghdad of an Iranian diplomat kidnapped at gunpoint in Iraq in February.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has also insisted there were no "side" deals done to secure the 15's release but said the behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations had created new lines of communication between Britain and Iran.
Movahedian said Iran wanted to capitalise on this new dialogue.
"If they (the British) want to be helpful and use their influence we will welcome that. We will welcome in general any steps that could defuse tensions in the region," he added.
Meanwhile, a British naval inquiry has been set up to establish how the 15 naval personnel came to be detained.
The sailors' accounts of psychological and emotional torture dominated last Saturday's press and media.
"We had a blindfold and plastic cuffs, hands behind our backs, heads against the wall. Basically there were weapons cocking," Tindell told BBC News 24 television.
"Someone, I'm not sure who, someone said, I quote, 'lads, lads, I think we're going to get executed'. After that comment someone was sick and as far as I was concerned he had just had his throat cut."
The coverage was mixed with that of four British troops, two of them women, killed in southern Iraq on last Thursday, which tempered homecoming celebrations.
A "suicidal firefight" when outgunned "might have started World War III", The Sun tabloid said.
And a senior Iranian source close to the Revolutionary Guards told The Guardian: "If this had been between Iranian and American soldiers it could have been the beginning of an accidental war."AFP
Most national dailies carried the group's detailed testimony on their front pages, the day after they made the first public statement about their 13-day detention for allegedly breaching Iran's territorial waters.
Prominent was an account by Royal Marine Joe Tindell, 21, who told how, blindfolded and their hands bound, the group at one point thought they were about to be executed and that he believed one had had his throat cut.
The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines were seized as they carried out what they said were routine anti-smuggling operations near the Shatt al-Arab waterway that divides Iraq and Iran on March 23.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last Wednesday he was releasing the 15 as a "gift" to the British people. They returned to Britain last Thursday and have since been debriefed and medically asssessed.
As the 14 men and one woman began two weeks' compassionate leave with their families, Tehran's ambassador to London said in an interview published Saturday that Britain should respond in kind to his country's actions.
Rasoul Movahedian told the Financial Times that Tehran wanted London's help in releasing five Iranians held in Iraq and on easing international fears about its controversial nuclear programme.
"We played our part and we showed our good will," he told the business daily. "Now it is up to the British government to proceed in a positive way."
He denied Ahmadinejad's announcement was linked to the case of the Iranians detained in Iraq or the release last Monday in Baghdad of an Iranian diplomat kidnapped at gunpoint in Iraq in February.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has also insisted there were no "side" deals done to secure the 15's release but said the behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations had created new lines of communication between Britain and Iran.
Movahedian said Iran wanted to capitalise on this new dialogue.
"If they (the British) want to be helpful and use their influence we will welcome that. We will welcome in general any steps that could defuse tensions in the region," he added.
Meanwhile, a British naval inquiry has been set up to establish how the 15 naval personnel came to be detained.
The sailors' accounts of psychological and emotional torture dominated last Saturday's press and media.
"We had a blindfold and plastic cuffs, hands behind our backs, heads against the wall. Basically there were weapons cocking," Tindell told BBC News 24 television.
"Someone, I'm not sure who, someone said, I quote, 'lads, lads, I think we're going to get executed'. After that comment someone was sick and as far as I was concerned he had just had his throat cut."
The coverage was mixed with that of four British troops, two of them women, killed in southern Iraq on last Thursday, which tempered homecoming celebrations.
A "suicidal firefight" when outgunned "might have started World War III", The Sun tabloid said.
And a senior Iranian source close to the Revolutionary Guards told The Guardian: "If this had been between Iranian and American soldiers it could have been the beginning of an accidental war."AFP
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