Blair: next 48 hours 'critical'

Last Modified: 03 Apr 2007
By: Jonathan Rugman

Tony Blair says the next 48 hours are fairly critical as the Foreign Secretary warns there wouldn't be a swift resolution to securing the release of 15 British sailors seized by Iran.

After 12 days of captivity new pictures of the sailors and marines have been released. They are seen no longer in uniform and the only woman, Faye Turney, is without a headscarf - the group seen apparently joking amongst themselves.

Yet the Prime Minister's described the next 48 hours as fairly critical to their freedom. Mr Blair says he's read the transcript of last night's channel4 News interview but apparently not heard from Ali Larijani himself. Till then the Prime Minister is speaking softly as the saying goes, but attempting at least to carry a big stick

Mr Blair says he doesn't want confrontation with Tehran and has been advised that talking too tough could prolong this crisis. The British Ambassador, thought to be striking a conciliatory tone, has been in talks today which seem to have made progress. The British have started diplomatic talks and if this process continues in a logical way, the crisis would be resolved peacefully and diplomatically

On last night's programme Mr Larijani set out conditions for the Britons' release. Admit your mistake he said, send a delegation to investigate, don't enter our waters again. And though British officials dispute the facts they welcome this senior official's involvement because he's so high up the chain of command

The chain of command

The ultimate power in Iran is its Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
National security council head Ali Larijani is his most senior foreign policy adviser.
But the Revolutionary Guard who took the Britons answer directly to the Supreme leader.
He also appointed Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who controls Iran's economy not its armed forces.
Even lower down the pecking order is Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

So though Britains' Foreign Secretary liaises with her Iranian counterpart, involving Ali Larijani - with his hotline to the Ayatollah - may hold the key to resolving this crisis quickly.