EU backs Britain on Iran but cautious on ties

BREMEN, Germany, Mar 30 (Reuters) European Union foreign ministers voiced solidarity with Britain on Friday over the detention of 15 British navy personnel captured by Iran but were reluctant to freeze business with Tehran over the row.

''It is clear that a message of solidarity with Great Britain must be sent from here,'' German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters before a meeting of the 27 ministers.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana declared: ''The British soldiers should be released immediately and without preconditions.'' Several ministers and officials indicated it was not the right moment to follow Britain's lead in suspending normal business with Iran when a diplomatic note from Tehran has raised hopes of a resolution of the week-old dispute.

European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters: ''I think we have to be careful.

We are in a very delicate moment.'' In an interview with Reuters and the BBC, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said that note gave no indication Iran was seeking a resolution to the crisis.

Asked if she wanted EU partners to join Britain in freezing business with Iran, she said all London sought for the moment was a clear political message of support.

Britain says the sailors were seized in Iraqi territorial waters. Iran says it has video and ''confessions'' by some of the navy personnel proving they had entered Iranian territory.

The crisis coincided with a U.N. Security Council resolution at the weekend hitting Tehran with sanctions over its nuclear programme. Tehran says it is not seeking atomic weapons and also denies U.S. and British accusations it stokes violence in Iraq.

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen rejected the idea of the EU freezing business with Iran which diplomats said Britain had initially sought..

''No, we have (an approach) where on the one side we support sanctions of the Security Council resolution and on the other side we want to have dialogue with Iran,'' Verhagen said.

''DELICATE MOMENT'' Steinmeier said he would meet separately with European members of the U.N. Security Council -- Britain, France, Belgium, Slovakia and Italy -- after the world body issued a watered-down statement of ''grave concern'' on Thursday.

European External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters: ''I think we have to be careful.

We are in a very delicate moment.'' Asked whether she was disappointed the Security Council had not condemned Iran and demanded the sailors' immediate release, Beckett said: ''We are happy to have got a clear indication from the U.N. that people would like to see it peacefully resolved as speedily as possible.

''This is exactly what we all want. And I hope the EU can do something to realise this.'' Some European diplomats say the seizure of the sailors may have been carried out by hardliners opposed to concessions over Iran's nuclear programme, who wanted to provoke a confrontation with the West.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told Deutschlandfunk radio: ''While we are in complete solidarity with Britain, we have to do everything to build in the necessary brakes so that things don't explode.

''We have to be careful that we don't go on outbidding each other with sanctions on Iran and talk of freezing relations.'' REUTERS PV HS1842