"Admit to being in Iranian waters and get released quicker. "
So you are saying that the contested waterway does belong to Iran and England sells out Iraq to get their 15 sailors back.
And people wonder why we America is consistently played as fools.
That is exactly what happened in the incident back in 2004. Those guys and the Iraqi's were plucked from Iraqi waters.
All the non-sense of name, rank, serial goes out the window. Look at the POWs in Desert Storm. Videod and filmed disagreeing with the war and apologising for attacking Iraq. In that case everybody knew that they were under duress and doing everything they could to survive. Only idiots belittled them for saying such things on camera.
Do you honestly think that those captured guys are going to go into name, rank, serial routine just to prolong their captivity? They will see it exactly as it is a diplomatic incident. They know that they were in Iraqi waters, but to aid their release will play along with the Iranians and give tongue in cheek apology.
The last time the Iranians were happy with videod apologies from all the navy and marine guys. It is likely that the Iranians will do that again.