Blair warns Iran of "different phase" Tue Mar 27, 2007 11:24AM BST
By Paul Hughes LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Tehran on Tuesday of a "different phase" if it did not free 15 British sailors captured four days ago. Iran says it may charge the 15 sailors and marines with illegally entering its waters. Britain insists the two boatloads of sailors were in Iraqi waters in the northern Gulf and has demanded their immediate release. "What we are trying to do ... is to pursue this through the diplomatic channels and make the Iranian government understand these people have to be released and that there is absolutely no justification whatever for holding them," Blair said. "And I hope we manage to get them to realise they have to release them. If not, then this will move into a different phase," he told GMTV. Asked what he meant by a "different phase", Blair said: "Well, we will just have to see, but what they should understand is that we cannot have a situation where our servicemen and women are seized when actually they are in Iraqi waters under a U.N. mandate, patrolling perfectly rightly and in accordance with that mandate, and then effectively captured and taken to Iran." The sailors' capture on Friday heightened tensions between Iran and the West just a day before the U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on Iran over its disputed atomic programme. British officials have been assured that the sailors are well but have not been given access to them or told where they are being held. Britain is keen to continue its strategy of exerting diplomatic pressure to get the sailors released, as long as there is still hope it will work, as this leaves Iran a chance to back down without the situation escalating further. Iranian Vice Foreign Minister Mahdi Mostafavi said on Monday the Britons were being interrogated to see if they had crossed into Iranian territory deliberately or not. Iran captured eight British servicemen in similar circumstances in 2004 and released them after three nights. Asked whether he thought the latest capture was linked to the seizure of five Iranians by U.S. forces from an Iranian consulate in northern Iraq in January, Blair said: "It should have absolutely no bearing at all, because any Iranian forces who are inside Iraq are breaching the United Nations mandate and undermining the democratically elected government of Iraq, so they have got no cause to be there at all." "In the end, it is a question really for the Iranian government as to whether they want to abide by international law or not and I hope that they do and we are working hard to try to persuade them that that is a sensible thing to do," Blair said. (Additional reporting by David Clarke) <http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL2744208420070327 <http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUKL2744208420070327> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
