26/03/2007

Seized British Naval personnel are 'fit and well'

Fifteen Royal Navy personnel captured by Iranian forces on Friday are "fit and well", the Foreign Office has confirmed.

It is understood that British ambassador to Iran, Geoffrey Adams, was given the assurance by officials from Iran's foreign ministry, during a meeting on Monday morning.

However, no further details about the Britons has been released.

Iran said that they could be charged with illegally entering Iranian waters, although both the UK and Iraq have said that they were in Iraqi waters at the time they were seized.

The Britons - eight sailors and seven marines, including one woman - were taking part in a routine operation in the Shatt Al Arab waterway when they were detained by an Iranian naval force.

Iran accused the personnel of the HMS Cornwall of being in Iranian waters illegally.

Both Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett have insisted that the vessel was in Iraqi waters and have demanded the release of the personnel.

On Sunday, Mr Blair described the detention of the service personnel as "unjustified and wrong".

On the same day, Mr Adams met with officials in Tehran but failed to find out where the Britons were being held or gain consular access to them.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has also called for the Britons to be released, as has Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who insisted that the Britons were in Iraqi waters when they were captured.

(KMcA/SP)


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