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Blair warning over captured sailors
Well, not exactly a "warning", but...The seizure of 15 British Navy personnel by Iran is a "very serious situation", Tony Blair said as he publicly entered the diplomatic crisis for the first time. The Prime Minister appealed for a swift end to the "unjustified and wrong" detention of the sailors and Marines. He warned Tehran that it was a "fundamental" issue for the UK and insisted they had not strayed into Iranian waters. "I have not been commenting up to now because I want to get it resolved in as easy and diplomatic a way as possible, because it is the welfare of the people that have been taken by the Iranian government that is most important," he said. "But this is a very serious situation." Speaking from an EU meeting in Berlin, he said: "There is no doubt at all that these people were taken from a boat in Iraqi waters. It is simply not true that they went into Iranian territorial waters, and I hope the Iranian government understands how fundamental an issue this is for us. "We have certainly sent the message back to them very clearly indeed. They should not be under any doubt at all about how seriously we regard this act, which is unjustified and wrong." Mr Blair said he hoped the issue could be resolved diplomatically in the next few days, adding: "But the quicker it is resolved, the easier it will be for all of us." Posted by: Dave D. 2007-03-25 |
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