WORLD / Middle East
Blair warns Iran standoff could escalate
(AP)
Updated: 2007-03-28 10:30
LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Tuesday that his government
could make public evidence that a British navy crew was in Iraqi waters
when it was captured by Iran, saying he was prepared to take the standoff
to a "different phase" if diplomacy fails to win their release.
A supporter of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, stands with a
placard outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, during a
demonstration calling on Britain to stand firm against Tehran, and to
accept the ruling of the European Court of Justice to remove People's
Mujahdeen Organisation of Iran from the European Union terror list,
Tuesday, March 27, 2007. [AP]
Iran said the 15 British sailors and marines were being treated well, but
refused to say where they were being held, or rule out the possibility
that they could be brought to trial for allegedly entering Iranian waters.
"I hope we manage to get them to realize they have to release them,"
Blair said in an interview with GMTV. "If not, then this will move into a
different phase."
Blair's spokesman said the prime minister was not hinting either at the
possible expulsion of Iranian diplomats or military action, but that
Britain may have to make public evidence proving the Britons were seized
in Iraqi - not Iranian - waters, if there is no swift release of the
sailors.
Releasing such evidence could have "an upside and a downside" because it
could show the Iranian ships strayed into Iraqi territory and provoke a
diplomatic row between the neighbors, the spokesman said on condition of
anonymity in line with policy.
Britain and the United States have said the sailors and marines were
intercepted Friday after they completed a search of a civilian vessel in
the Iraqi part of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where the border between
Iran and Iraq has been disputed for centuries.
There were fears in Britain that the fate of the 15 could get caught up
in the political tensions between Iran and the West, including the
dispute over Iran's nuclear program and accusations of Iranian help to
Shiite militants in Iraq.
On Tuesday, the US Navy began its largest demonstration of force in the
Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, with warplanes from two
aircraft carriers flying simulated attack maneuvers off the coast of Iran.
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US commanders insisted the exercises were not a direct response to the
seizure of the British sailors and marines, but they also made clear that
the flexing of the Navy's military might was intended as a warning to
Iran.
Meanwhile, the US military denied reports Tuesday that Iran fired a
missile at a US ship in the Persian Gulf. The rumors of an attack had
sent oil prices soaring more than 8 percent in after-hours trading. Lt.
Cmdr. Charlie Brown of the US Navy 5th Fleet said all ships in the Gulf
had been checked and the rumors were untrue.
The British government on Tuesday also denied it was involved in any
action in the region.
"There have certainly been no developments on our side in the last few
hours," a Foreign Office spokeswoman in London said, on condition of
anonymity in line with government policy.
Also Tuesday, the Foreign Affairs Committee in the US House of
Representatives approved a resolution demanding the release of the
British soldiers.
In London, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett called Iran's foreign
minister for the second time and demanded the Britons' swift release in
"very robust terms", the Foreign Office said.
Blair's spokesman did not specify if Britain had set a deadline for the
naval crew's release but said negotiations would not be "indefinite."
He also refused to say if satellite images or GPS coordinates had been
shown to Iranian authorities and declined to reveal which territorial
boundaries in the waterway Britain recognizes.
Iran has said it is questioning the British sailors and marines to
determine if their alleged entry into Iranian waters was "intentional or
unintentional" before deciding what to do with them - a sign Tehran could
be seeking a way out of the standoff.
The dispute helped drive up international oil prices Monday, but they
fell Tuesday, reflecting hopes of a peaceful resolution.
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