Navy personnel 'admit' incursion

Last Modified: 24 Mar 2007
By: Channel 4 News

The Iranian military says the 15 British naval personnel held in the Persian Gulf have confessed to entering Iranian waters illegally.

Accused by Iran of "blatant aggression", the 15 have been taken to Tehran for questioning, according to unconfirmed reports

The British government has again demanded the release of the group, which includes one woman and which was detained after searching a ship suspected of smuggling. Reports that they've been taken to Tehran have not been confirmed.

The arrests of 15 Royal Navy personnel dominated state-run TV in Iran today. The authorities there insist this was a deliberate violation of their waters - and they say those being held have admitted as much.

The arrests took place in the northern Gulf, outside the Shatt al-Arab waterway. The sailors and marines had boarded a merchant ship to carry out an inspection when they were surrounded by Iranian vessels.

Iranian territorial waters lie to the east, and Iraqi waters to the west. But there are no obvious demarcations.

The British government remains adamant that the Royal Navy personnel did not stray out of Iraqi waters. They made this clear at a second meeting with the Iranian ambassador today.

The British government remains adamant that the Royal Navy personnel did not stray out of Iraqi waters.

But the Iranians claim recordings by devices in the captured boats prove their version of events. And the Iraqis seem to back them up. One high-ranking Iraqi soldier says: "We were informed by Iraqi fishermen after they had returned from sea that there were British gunboats in an area which is out of Iraqi control. We don't know why they were there. And these British troops were besieged by unknown gunboats. I don't know from where."

'We were informed by Iraqi fishermen after they had returned from sea that there were British gunboats in an area which is out of Iraqi control. We don't know why they were there.'
Iraqi Brigadier General Hakim Jassim

It's events in January - not in Iran but Iraq - which could be behind these arrests. Several Iranian government officials were arrested by American troops in Arbil, despite Iraqi authorities agreeing to their visit.

Iran was furious about those arrests, and the holding of the British sailors could be tit for tat.

But the arrests also coincide with a UN security council meeting today, voting on tougher sanctions against Iran. Council members are frustrated that Iran has continued to produce enriched uranium that could be made into a nuclear bomb.