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Last Updated: Wednesday, 28 March 2007, 13:38 GMT 14:38 UK

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UK reveals Iran dispute evidence

Officials say GPS data shows the personnel were in Iraqi waters


MoD news briefing
Satellite data proves 15 navy personnel being held in Iran were 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters when they were seized, UK defence officials say.
Vice Admiral Charles Style said the sailors had been "ambushed" in the Gulf after searching a vessel and their detention was "unjustified and wrong".

Tony Blair said it was time to "ratchet up" pressure on Iran, with whom the UK has now suspended bilateral contacts.

Reports suggest the only woman among the group will be freed shortly.

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman is quoted as saying Faye Turney, 26, would be released either later on Wednesday or on Thursday.

Iran has insisted the group were in its waters when they were taken last Friday.

The eight sailors and seven marines, based on HMS Cornwall, which has its home port in Plymouth, were taken at gunpoint by Iranian Revolutionary Guards after they had searched a merchant vessel.

UK VERSION OF EVENTS

1 Crew boards merchant ship 1.7NM inside Iraqi waters
2 HMS Cornwall was south-east of this, and inside Iraqi waters
3 Iran tells UK that merchant ship was at a different point, still within Iraqi waters
4 After UK points this out, Iran provides alternative position, now within Iranian waters



UK version in more detail

Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki told Turkey's CNN-Turk television the 15 - thought to be at the guards' base in Tehran - were in "completely good health".

Iran's embassy in London also issued a statement in response to the UK data, in which it said the sailors and marines had been 0.5 km inside Iranian waters at the time they were seized.

The statement, quoted by the official IRNA news agency, said "the governments of Iran and Britain have the ability to solve the incident through contacts and close co-operation".

At a briefing in London, the Ministry of Defence said it "unambiguously contested" Iran's claims that the Royal Navy personnel had strayed into Iranian waters.

Speaking later, Mr Blair told MPs it was time to increase pressure on Iran "in order to make sure the Iranian government understands their total isolation on this issue".

The seizure of the personnel was "unacceptable, wrong and illegal" and the UK was now in talks with all its key allies and partners, he said.

Mr Blair added: "Our thoughts are with the servicemen and the servicewoman and their families, and their safe return is our paramount concern."

The prime minister said: "These personnel were patrolling in Iraqi waters under a United Nations mandate. Their boarding and checking of the Indian merchant vessel was routine - there was no justification therefore for their detention."

Mr Blair said the personnel had been "doing their job" and the government would be talking to international partners in Nato and the UN to reach a "sensible" solution.

The UK government said the Iranians initially said the merchant vessel searched by the navy personnel had been at a point within Iraqi waters, before later providing a second, alternative position, within Iranian waters.

In a statement to the Commons, Mrs Beckett said: "We find it impossible to believe, given the seriousness of the incident, that the Iranians could have made such a mistake with the original coordinates."

She told MPs that Britain were suspending bilateral contacts with Iran until the navy personnel were released.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said: "The seizure of our personnel was clearly unjustified and the evidence the foreign secretary and the MoD has presented shatters the credibility of any claim they were operating in Iranian waters."

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said the freeze on ties between the two countries meant that until the Britons were returned there would be "no inward or outward visits to Iran" and no UK visas would be granted to Iranian officials.

Iranian state television has broadcast an interview with captured British sailor Faye Turney and footage of the 14 servicemen seized with her.
Leading Seaman Turney, 26, said they had been seized in the Gulf because "obviously we trespassed" in Iranian waters - something the UK disputes.

She said her captors had been friendly and the 15 personnel were unharmed.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in a statement she was "very concerned" about the pictures.

'Hospitable'

Earlier Iran said it would release Leading Seaman Turney "very soon".

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said she would be released on Wednesday or Thursday.

UK VERSION OF EVENTS

1 Crew boards merchant ship 1.7NM inside Iraqi waters
2 HMS Cornwall was south-east of this, and inside Iraqi waters
3 Iran tells UK that merchant ship was at a different point, still within Iraqi waters
4 After UK points this out, Iran provides alternative position, now within Iranian waters

Sailor 'writes' to family

The circumstances of the filming are unknown.

The footage showed the eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines, who were seized at gunpoint by Iranian Revolutionary Guards last Friday, in their uniforms sitting and eating a meal out of white trays.

There was separate footage of Leading Seaman Turney - wearing a black headscarf - smoking and speaking.

She said: "I was arrested on Friday March 23. Obviously we trespassed into their waters.

"They were very friendly and very hospitable, very thoughtful, good people.

"They explained to us why we had been arrested. There was no aggression, no hurt, no harm. They were very, very compassionate."

'Unacceptable'

The video showed a letter, said to have been written by Leading Seaman Turney, who is from Shrewsbury, to her parents, in which she admitted that the navy personnel had "apparently" crossed into Iranian waters.


The captured personnel were shown eating in their uniforms

"I wish we hadn't because then I would be home with you right now," the letter said.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said he thought Leading Seaman Turney's words had been scripted.

"She did not sound there like somebody who was saying those words of her free will," he said.

"Obviously she had been told what to say."

Mrs Beckett said she was concerned about "any indication of pressure on or coercion of our personnel" who she said were on a routine operation in accordance with international law.

She added: "I am particularly disappointed that a private letter has been used in a way which can only add to the distress of the families."

Defence Secretary Des Browne said it was "completely unacceptable to parade our people in this way".

'Pressure'

Earlier on Wednesday the UK said it was suspending bilateral contacts with Iran amid the dispute over the personnel.

They were taken after searching a merchant vessel in the northern Gulf.


Footage was shown of the British personnel being seized

Iran has insisted the group, based on HMS Cornwall, which has its home port in Plymouth, were in its waters when they were taken.

Earlier Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was time for the UK to "ratchet up" pressure on Iran.

The Ministry of Defence issued data it said proved the navy group had been 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters when they were seized.

Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Charles Style, gave detailed co-ordinates which he said proved that.

'Ambush'

The co-ordinates were 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north, 048 degrees 43.08 minutes east.

The MoD also released a photograph of a handheld global positioning satellite device in HMS Cornwall's Lynx helicopter as it flew over the searched merchant vessel.

Vice Admiral Style said the sailors had been "ambushed" and their detention was "unjustified and wrong".

The UK government said the Iranians had initially said the merchant vessel had been at a point within Iraqi waters, before later providing a second, alternative position, within Iranian waters.

Iran's embassy in London issued a statement in response to the UK data, in which it said the sailors and marines had been 0.5 km inside Iranian waters at the time they were seized.

The statement, quoted by the official IRNA news agency, said "the governments of Iran and Britain have the ability to solve the incident through contacts and close co-operation".