|
'The humiliation of the powers'
05/04/2007 09:07 - (SA)
|
|
|
 |
|
| The British crew enter Iran's international airport escorted by the elite Revolutionary Guards before flying out of the country. (Hasan Sarbakhshian, AP) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tehran - Iran's reformist and conservative press on Thursday applauded the surprise release of 15 British sailors, boasting that Tehran had won a commitment from Britain for their freedom.
All Iranian newspapers printed front-page pictures of the 14 men and one woman waving to the cameras at the presidential compound after their pardon by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"With a written commitment from Britain and on the threshold of the prophet of compassion's birthday (Mohammed), Iran pardons the intruding sailors," the hardline Kayhan said in its headline.
This appeared to be a reference to Ahmadinejad's statement that the British government vowed in a letter not to repeat such incidents, something that has not been confirmed by London.
"Britain gave guarantees, the military were freed," said Jaam-Jam, the newspaper of Iran's state broadcaster.
In an editorial titled: "The message of freedom, the humiliation of the powers", it said: "Their freedom had two clear messages.
"The first showed Iran's might in confronting any aggression and intrusion. The second message was prevention of international tension between Iran and the rest of countries."
The reformist Aftab Yazd published an editorial on the day's events entitled "I did feel proud."
"The president should have added another clause to his release statement and that was 'we wanted to release them earlier but we wanted the 48 hours ultimatum of Blair to pass before we released them," it added.
The British Prime Minister had announced on Tuesday that the next 48 hours would be "critical" in the standoff.
- AFP
|
