Iran row 'at critical stage'
2007-04-03 14:50
London - Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Tuesday the way was open for diplomatic efforts to secure the release of 15 British sailors and marines seized by Iran, and the next 48 hours would be critical.
The two countries have been at loggerheads since Iran
captured the sailors on March 23 in the northern the Gulf, but
there have been few signs of real progress.
British moves to get the international community to condemn
Iran have angered Tehran while Britain has criticised the
parading of its military personnel on Iranian television, saying
the broadcasted admissions of guilt had been forced.
On Monday Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme
National Security Council, said he believed bilateral diplomacy
could resolve the crisis quickly. Britain responded by saying it
too would like early talks to end the row.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday on hopes there would be a
diplomatic solution to the 12-day stand-off that has heightened
Middle East tensions and helped push crude prices up $10.
'Not looking for confrontation'
"The next 48 hours will be fairly critical," Blair told a
radio station in Scotland.
"We're not looking for confrontation over this and actually
the most important thing is to get the people back safe and
sound. And if they want to resolve this in a diplomatic way the
door is open," he said.
The dispute centres on where the sailors were when they were
seized. Britain insists they were in Iraqi waters on a routine
UN mission, but Tehran says they were in its territory.
Both sides are standing firm on this, but Larijani left the
door open by saying a "delegation" should be sent to determine
whether the British sailors were in Iran or not.