Release of British soldiers eases tensions with Iran

IRAQ: Eight British servicemen were freed yesterday after three nights in the hands of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, ending …

IRAQ: Eight British servicemen were freed yesterday after three nights in the hands of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, ending a diplomatic wrangle that had threatened to inflame tensions over Britain's presence in Iraq.

British diplomats took custody of the eight naval personnel and flew with them to Tehran from the Gulf area where they were detained on Monday after straying into Iranian waters.

The servicemen were shown blindfolded on Iranian television shortly after their capture, but as diplomacy progressed had also been treated by their captors to chopped meat stew.

Diplomatic relations had already soured over British pressure on Iran's atomic programme, but the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, insisted he still backed a policy of engagement with Iran, despite the arrests.

READ MORE

"I am in no doubt at all that our policy of engagement with the government of Iran . . . is the best approach," he said shortly after the eight were released.

"We have worked hard on diplomatic relations with Iran . . . Sometimes the relationships are complicated."

Diplomats had been locked in negotiations far into Wednesday night, deliberating over the return of the men's equipment. Yesterday the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mr Kamal Kharrazi, told state television the equipment would be returned.

The eight were held after they were seized on the Shatt al-Arab waterway along the Iran-Iraq border.

Diplomats visited them on Wednesday and said they had been well looked after. Television showed them lounging on beds with bright quilts, and the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Revolutionary Guards saying they had given their guests a traditional diced-meat stew.

"At least now we can be pleased that they're happy and released," Mr Straw said.

Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam TV channel had shown the men blindfolded and forced to walk in single file earlier in their detention.

Mr Straw was deliberately conciliatory and avoided comment on the TV images of the men that have outraged many in Britain.

"Obviously I'm very pleased indeed as I know their families and service colleagues will be," he said of their imminent homecoming.

While deeply opposed to the war in Iraq, Iran has in the past turned a blind eye to foreign aircraft and boats on its western border.

But hardline Iranian newspapers were unenthusiastic about the prospect of an early release. "What's the hurry in releasing the British spies?" asked Jomhuri-ye Eslami, arguing that the men had been equipped with espionage equipment.