Sailors 'forced into' Iran

2004-07-01 09:47

London - Eight British servicemen captured by Iran after their boats supposedly strayed into Iranian waters were "forcibly escorted" across the national boundary from Iraq, Britain's defence minister said on Wednesday.

The six marines and two navy sailors were detained for three days in Iran last week, during which they were paraded blindfold on television and forced to publicly apologise.

Iran insisted that the boats were intercepted only after they entered Iranian waters on the Shatt al-Arab waterway that divides southern Iraq from Iran.

However in a written statement, British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon disputed this version of events.

"In a recent debriefing the crews have said that they were operating inside the Iraqi border and were forcibly escorted into Iranian territorial waters," he said.

"Our assessment continues and will be greatly assisted by the retrieval of navigational information in the Global Positioning System equipment carried by the crews."

He added: "We are very concerned about the blindfolding of the men and have made representations to the government of Iran.

"We have made it clear that we do not expect a recurrence of this incident," Hoon said, adding that British forces were issued with up-to-date charts and equipment which meant it was unlikely they would have misjudged the border.

The eight servicemen were released on Friday, with Iran keeping equipment including the boats, radios and navigational equipment.

The equipment had yet to be returned, despite Tuesday's deadline for this to happen, Hoon said.

- AFP