Posted on 06/22/2004 10:35:10 AM PDT by kattracks
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran hinted an eight-man British Royal Navy unit arrested for straying into its territorial waters along the border with Iraq (news - web sites) could soon be freed, but only after they were shown on state television blindfolded and then making a public confession.In a dramatic and humiliating twist to the incident, two officers admitted they had made a "big mistake", insisted it was an accident and apologised to the Islamic republic's Revolutionary Guards.
"My name is Thomas Hawkins from the British Royal Navy, number D04428," said the first officer, who appeared to be reading from a prepared text.
"Our team of three boats and eight crew entered Iranian waters by mistake. We apologise because this was a big mistake," he said, according to a translation of the Arabic voice-over provided by Al-Alam, Iran's official Arabic-language satellite news channel.
The second officer, clearly reading from a prepared text and also standing on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, introduced himself as "Chief Petty Officer Robert Webster of the Royal Navy, number D987567 Alpha."
He said the team had "accidentally entered Iranian waters" when they were arrested on Monday. Prior to the confessions, state television had shown the men being held blindfolded in a cramped room.
But the signs were that their ordeal could soon be over.
A member of the general staff of Iran's armed forces, Ali Reza Afshar, said interrogators were trying to establish what the sailors and Royal Marines were doing on Iran's side of the strategic area that demarcates the southern border between Iran and Iraq and where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow into the Gulf.
"If the results of the interrogation of the British soldiers show that they did not have bad intentions, they will be freed very soon," Afshar told the student news agency ISNA.
Al-Alam television also quoted a military source as saying their release -- without the trial that had been threatened earlier -- was now "probable".
And after Iran appeared to reject appeals from Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw for their speedy release, Iran's defence minister also urged conciliation.
"The issue of the British boats is solvable," Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani said. "Those wrongdoers who do not have a hostile attitude should be dealt with in a way that corresponds with Iranian dignity."
In London, the Foreign Office called for the eight naval personnel to be released "as soon as possible". It also summoned Tehran's ambassador to London Morteza Sarmadi over the incident, which comes amid a fresh downturn in relations between Tehran and London.
British diplomats in Tehran, meanwhile, continued to be frustrated in their efforts to gain consular access to the detained men.
"We are still waiting for a reply to our request for consular access," an embassy spokesman, Andrew Dunn, told AFP. He also said Britain was in the dark over where they were being held.
But despite the television images, which have alarmed British diplomats, Afshar asserted they were being well treated, going as far as to say the Britons had even "thanked Iran for its kind hospitality".
In the images broadcast by Al-Alam, the Britons appeared to be unhappy but unharmed.
The channel also showed images of captured equipment, including a vast array of weapons, communications equipment, GPS navigational devices, night-vision goggles, cameras and the flag of the Royal Marines Commando Brigade.
Britain says the team combined Royal Marines and Royal Navy training personnel -- involved in training Iraqis to patrol the Shatt al-Arab -- had merely been bringing a repaired boat from Umm Qasr to Basra when they were detained.
"We have no idea why they were taken at this particular point in time," said Squadron Leader Spike Wilson, a spokesman for the British forces who control southern Iraq from their headquarters in Basra.
British armed forces control the Basra region. They patrol, in conjunction with Iraqi security forces, parts of the Shatt al-Arab, mostly to combat smugglers and militants seeking to infiltrate Iraq and fight against the US-led coalition.
"The Iranians are claiming that we went over their international boundary. That's not something that's unusual, to be perfectly honest," Wilson said.
The arrests, however, do coincide with a period when ties between Iran and Britain have been strained.
Britain was the co-sponsor of a resolution passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last Friday that heavily criticised Iran for failing to cooperate fully with an investigation into its nuclear programme.
In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites)'s spokesman refused to speculate on whether the border incident was related to the IAEA resolution, which has deeply angered Iran's clerical rulers.
The British embassy was also targeted in May during a string of angry demonstrations, sparked by an Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, as well as the entry of coalition troops into Iraq's Shiite Muslim holy cities.
But contacts with Iranian troops along the southern Iraq border area have generally been described by British sources as cordial, and the incident was the most serious of its kind since Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s toppling in April 2003.
Afshar asserted they were being well treated, going as far as to say the Britons had even "thanked Iran for its kind hospitality".
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
This is what's considered a confession?
Keep this crap up and it won't be the Brits who are making the biggest "mistake".
Negotiations my butt! That's the same thing that was said about the S. Korean who is now dead!
I am sure this will be on the front page of the New York Times for the next 27 days...
I suppose you believe these guys should have been executed for treason also?
www.usspueblo.org
Confessions under duress have no validity. You should be ashamed of yourself for attacking the honor of these men before we even have all of the facts.
Stick the fork in the Judeo/Christian world.
We're done :o(
What about their behavior has been treasonous?
??
All this sounds very much like the treatment of POWs and announcements about them from the North Vietnames and North Koreans. Not too suprising as the NK's are the Iranians' "advisors" and suppliers.
I agree. Hence my new tagline.
Those will end up being some very expensive "confessions" for Iran.
They would have been wise not to hand Britain further justification for what's coming next.
Hopefully you will find the courage to go over there and take their place, instead of sniping at them from your armchair.
next week, we can apologize for plastering Iranian deployments along the Iraqi border and their nuclear facilities with cruise missiles.
All just a misunderstanding, you see.
You've never seen one of these situations before, have you? Typically, they are tortured until they "confess"--as was done during the Iran hostage situation (for which we can all thank Jimmah Carter). If these men confessed, be sure it wasn't done voluntarily.
Regards, Ivan
Just what did these guys confess to?? It looks like they only confessed into ACCIDENTALLY entering Iranian waters. No big deal if you ask me.
Amen...I love the bravery of keyboard warriors./sarcasm
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