IRAN:Iran's most senior diplomat, Ali Larijani, called for a "delegation" to rule on whether a British naval patrol entered Iranian waters last month before his government would release the 15 marines and sailors it is holding captive.
Laying out what appeared to be a vague road map for the freeing of the British personnel, Mr Larijani said that if it was found they had crossed into Iranian territory, there should be an apology and they would then be released.
He gave some conciliatory signals in an interview with the UK's Channel 4 News, saying the Iranian government was not interested in putting the detainees on trial, but warned that might change if Britain attempted to impose more international pressure on Tehran.
"We are not interested in this issue getting more complicated," said Mr Larijani, the secretary general of Iran's national security council.
"Our interest is in solving this problem as soon as possible. This issue can be resolved and there is no need for any trial. There should be a delegation to review the case . . . to clarify whether they have been in our territorial waters or not."
Mr Larijani did not specify whether the delegation he was requesting should be British or international, but he did say the issue should be solved "bilaterally".
UK foreign office officials said they were studying Mr Larijani's comments. His remarks could be a response to an offer by Britain to send a team of naval experts and diplomats to discuss how to avoid a repetition of the crisis.
However, British officials are adamant that the team would not be going to negotiate the captives' release, and would focus on the future rather than on the March 23rd incident.
They said proposed talks would ideally improve the current atmosphere but would not include acceptance of Iranian claims that the British patrol had entered Iranian waters.
Earlier in the day, Iranian media noted "positive changes" in negotiations with Britain over the crisis. It said that was the reason it did not broadcast "confessions" of a territorial incursion by all 15 captives, which Iran says it has recorded.
So far, four of the captives have been shown "admitting" that they had entered Iranian waters, in what Downing Street called "stage-managed TV appearances".
The head of Iran's parliamentary committee on foreign policy and national security, Allaeddin Broujerdi, seemed to echo the British suggestion for talks yesterday when he told state radio: "There is a need for a bilateral agreement to prevent such an event in the future."
In seeking the captives' release, Britain has been seeking help from Iran's allies.
Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, has intervened personally with Iran. Mr Assad raised the issue with the Iranian foreign minister Manuchehr Mottaki at the Arab summit conference in Riyadh last Wednesday.
It came shortly before Mr Mottaki told an Iranian TV station that the captured sailor, leading seaman Faye Turney, would shortly be released. The move followed a direct appeal to Damascus by Nigel Sheinwald, Tony Blair's chief foreign policy adviser.
It came only five months after Sir Nigel visited the Syrian capital in an attempt to persuade Mr Assad to distance himself from Iran, which is at odds with the West over its nuclear ambitions, Iraq, Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A crisis committee of British ministers met to discuss the situation yesterday, in what one official described as a "stock-taking meeting".
Downing Street said last night that it could not comment on any contacts of this kind due to the sensitivity of the issue. But it is known that British officials have been impressed by Syria's readiness to help and have singled it out for praise in recent days.
- (Guardian service)