Iran broadcasts sailor's confession
(AP)Updated: 2007-03-30 18:34
 In this image taken from Iranian television Friday March 30, 2007 a British sailor, whose name was given in Farsi as Nighton Thomas Summers, said he was aware that the incident in which he was seized was the second time since 2004 that British military personnel had entered Iranian waters. A newscaster earlier on Al-Alam television said the taped confession would show a British sailor explaining how he and his colleagues entered Iranian waters 'in an illegal way.' [AP]  |
A newscaster on Al-Alam television said the taped confession would show a British sailor explaining how he and his colleagues entered Iranian waters "in an illegal way." He did not identify the sailor, but added the tape would appear later Friday.
Iran has demanded that Britain acknowledge that its sailors had violated Iranian waters, with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki saying Thursday that such an admission would help to secure the release of the 15 service members.
Earlier this week, it appeared the two countries were moving toward a resolution of the crisis. Mottaki told reporters Wednesday that the only woman in the group, Faye Turney, would be freed shortly.
However, the Iranians were angered by tough talk out of London, including a freeze on most bilateral contacts and a British move to refer the issue to the U.N. Security Council.
On Thursday, the council expressed "grave concern" over Iran's seizure of the military personnel and called for an early resolution of the escalating dispute.
As tensions spiked again Thursday, the Iranians rolled back on their offer to free Turney.
On Friday, however, the Turkish prime minister's office said that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had indicated his government is willing to reconsider freeing Turney, who is married and has a young daughter.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Ahmadinejad on Thursday evening, said Erdogan's spokesman, Akif Beki. Ahmadinejad told the prime minister that Iran was "willing to reconsider the issue of the release of the woman crew member," Beki said.
Iran claims the British sailors and marines, part of a Royal Navy force patrolling the Persian Gulf for smugglers, were operating in its waters when captured last Friday. The incident came several months into the escalating standoff between Iran and the United Nations over Tehran's nuclear program.
An Iranian news agency reported earlier in the day that Iran's Foreign Ministry sent a message to the British embassy in Tehran calling for a guarantee by London to avoid violating Iranian territorial waters in the future.
Until now, Iran has said the matter could only be resolved if Britain admitted its sailors were trespassing.
Crude oil prices kept soaring Friday as a jittery market worried that oil exports could be affected by the British-Iranian crisis.
After settling at a six-month high a day earlier, light, sweet crude futures rose another 45 cents to $66.48 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Trading settled Thursday at $66.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange -- the highest settlement price since Sept. 8, 2006, when crude finished at $66.25.
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