Royal Navy Incident: Iran?s larger trap

Political Mavens ^ | 24 MARCH 2007 | Walid Phares

[MikeAI]

Iran under pressure to free sailors


The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have piled the pressure on Iran to demand the immediate release of 15 British service personnel held captive for five days.

Diplomatic wrangling intensified, with Tony Blair saying he was "utterly confident" they had done nothing wrong while Margaret Beckett demanded their safe return in "very robust" terms.

The group of sailors and marines seized last Friday include married mother-of-one Faye Turney and 21-year-old Paul Barton.

In an interview with the BBC, hours before she was captured, Mrs Turney said: "My parents made sure that I was under no illusion that I could and can go to war at any time. That's the choice I made, so it's always there.

"You've got to have it in the back of your head that you can be called on - and when you do you've just got to deal with it and get on with it."

All 15 British personnel were detained at gun-point after they boarded a dhow carrying suspicious cargo off the coast of Iraq.

The Foreign Office has maintained pressure on the Iranian government and Mrs Beckett spoke to her counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki for the second time since the affair began.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "She spoke in very robust terms, re-iterating the UK's concerns about the continued detention of our personnel. She demanded their safe and speedy return and immediate consular access so that we can satisfy ourselves that they are safe and well."
Mum held!

http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=4552406

Earlier, Mr Blair warned of a "different phase" if diplomatic efforts failed to secure their release.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said he was referring to "a different way" of handling talks, which may involve making public the reasons why the UK was certain the personnel were in Iraqi waters.

[Fletch357]

Hell Yeah! WW1, 1917 to 1919 & WW2, 1942 to 1946......