Iran delays sailor's release, UK seeks support

London, Mar 30: Britain yesterday sought international help to isolate Iran in a standoff over the capture of 15 military personnel in the Gulf and Iran responded by putting off the release of a woman captive.

The six-day-old dispute has stoked West Asia tensions, already heightened over concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions, and sent tremors through the oil market.

Britain insists its 15 sailors and marines were seized last week in Iraqi waters and has published what it says is proof from a global positioning system readout.

Iran responded today by showing video of the capture and charts it says show the British personnel were in Iranian waters when captured.

The United Nations Security Council is currently considering the text of a statement, demanded by Britain, deploring Iran's action and calling for the Britons' immediate release, a foreign office official said.

Government sources said Britain, which has frozen business ties with Iran, would ask EU foreign ministers to follow its lead and adopt more practical measures to put pressure on Iran.

''It only makes sense if we get an EU consensus,'' said one European diplomatic source. ''But there's willingness on all parts.'' Iran's Mehr news agency quoted military commander Alireza Afshar saying Britain must apologise for entering Iran's waters and promise it would not happen again.

''The release of a female British soldier has been suspended,'' he was quoted as saying. ''The wrong behaviour of those who live in London caused the suspension.'' Oil prices remained near six-month highs on concerns that any escalation could hit oil supplies from the Gulf.

''With the excuse of controlling ships that go to Iraq, they want to make it a norm to violate other countries' sovereignty,'' Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on state television.

''But they should know that the cost of this is not cheap.''

US Not Seeking Confrontation

The United Nations hit Iran with sanctions at the weekend over its nuclear programme which Tehran insists is aimed purely at power production. Washington and London also blame Iran for backing insurgents battling their forces in Iraq.

The United States has this week been conducting its biggest exercises in Gulf waters for four years, prompting the Russian foreign minister to caution Washington against aggravating the situation in the region.

''The Persian Gulf is today in such an agitated state that any action in this region, especially one that involves the navy or other military forces, must take into account the need not to aggravate the situation even more,'' Sergei Lavrov told reporters. ''It is already unstable.'' Two US carriers in the Gulf ''are not there to provoke any kind of conflict with Iran'', Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Britain's Ambassador to Iran Geoffrey Adams met senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official Ebrahim Rahimpour today, the sixth meeting between the British embassy and ministry officials since the start of the crisis.

''They are still not able to give us straight answers to our questions. There is still no word on access or release or even whereabouts of the detainees. It is extremely disappointing,'' a British diplomat told Reuters after the latest meeting.

Alex Bigham at the Foreign Policy Centre think-tank in London said Iran might want the diplomatic wrangle to take the international focus away from its nuclear programme, which the West fears is ultimately designed to produce atomic weapons.

The French Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to France today to demand the sailors' swift release.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told the IRNA news agency that what he called ''interference'' by third parties would not help resolve the issue.

Reuters

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