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Iran to free UK woman captive
28/03/2007 15:29 - (SA)
Riyadh - Iran will free a detained British servicewoman on Wednesday or Thursday, said the Iranian foreign minister.
"Today or tomorrow, the lady will be released," Manouchehr Mottaki said on Wednesday on the sidelines of an Arab summit that he was attending in the Saudi capital.
The woman is among 15 British sailors and marines detained by Iran in disputed waters off the Iranian-Iraqi coast last week, sparking a crisis between Iran and Britain.
Britain insists the troops were in Iraqi waters, but Iran says they had crossed into its territorial waters.
Mottaki discounted the possibility of an escalation in the crisis, suggesting that the alleged entry into Iranian waters may have been a mistake.
"This is a violation that just happened. It could be natural. They did not resist," he said.
Britain on Wednesday released the co-ordinates where it said the crew was detained by Iranian boats as it searched for smugglers.
It said the co-ordinates proved British claims that they were in Iraqi waters.
Mottaki denied this, saying, "That's not true. It happened in Iranian territorial waters."
Meanwhile, AFP reports that an Arabic-language Iranian television station said on Wednesday it would broadcast "new footage" of 15 British sailors being held by Iran.
Al-Alam also said it would air an interview with the sole woman among the 15 navy and marine personnel who were seized in the Gulf between Iran and Iraq on Friday.
However, it did not say when it would show the footage.
- AP/AFP
- AP
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