Eye On U.K

[Rasputin]

The next two days will be a "fairly critical" phase in the talks to free the 15 Royal Navy personnel captured by Iran, Tony Blair has said.
The prime minister said he was "not looking for confrontation" and "the most important thing is to get the people back safe and sound".

Earlier, a Tehran official said the issue could be resolved by negotiation.

Iran accuses the crew of straying into its waters on 23 March. The British insist they were in Iraqi territory.

'Diplomatic talks'

Ali Larijani, of the Supreme National Security Council, hinted on Tuesday that a new phase in the talks with Britain had been started.

Mr Larijani, who is also Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, told Iranian state radio: "The British government has started some diplomatic talks with the Iranian Foreign Ministry. They are only at the beginning.




Profile: UK captives

"If they continue this path they can change the situation logically... in such a way that the issue is resolved."

Mr Blair said he had read the transcript of Mr Larijani's speech and it "seems to offer some prospect but the most important thing is to get these people back".

He said from the start of the talks, Britain had two tracks - firstly to make Iran understand that "the pressure is there", and secondly that the "door is open" to diplomacy.

Later, he added that if "peaceful, calm negotiation" to get the crew back was not possible the UK would have to take "increasingly tougher decisions".

After his comments Iranian TV said Mr Blair had taken a "hardline" stance.

UK VERSION OF EVENTS
1 Crew boards merchant ship 1.7NM inside Iraqi waters
2 HMS Cornwall was south-east of this, and inside Iraqi waters
3 Iran tells UK that merchant ship was at a different point, still within Iraqi waters
4 After UK points this out, Iran provides alternative position, now within Iranian waters



Both versions in more detail
Dividing lines of Shatt al-Arab

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett has said "we should be cautious in thinking that we're likely to see a swift solution in this issue... diplomatic efforts continue".

She added that "some people have read a lot into the prime minister's remarks".

"He is not intending to imply anything about military action," she said, pointing out that the UK shares Mr Larijani's "preference for bi-lateral discussions".

New photographs of some of the crew, including Leading Seaman Faye Turney, were released on Tuesday, showing them wearing casual clothes for the first time.

In one photo some of the Royal Navy personnel are shown sitting on the floor wearing tracksuits and smiling.

LS Turney is not wearing a headscarf as she has in previous TV footage released by the Iranians.

Another picture shows two members of the crew playing chess.

Meanwhile, the names of some more of the service personnel being held have been confirmed.

IRANIAN VERSION OF EVENTS
1 Royal Navy crew stray 0.5km inside Iranian waters
2 Iran gives set of co-ordinates to back up their claims
3 According to seized GPS equipment, the Royal Navy crew had previously entered Iranian waters at several other points
4 Iran informs Britain of the position where the crew were seized, inside Iranian waters



Profile: Ali Larijani
Iran's centres of power

The BBC can confirm that Leading Seaman Christopher Coe, from the Dalton area of Huddersfield, is among the captives.

And the family of Operator Maintainer Simon Massey, who is also being held, said they were going through a "very distressing time" at the moment.

Meanwhile, the family of Royal Marine Joe Tindall have said they are "immensely proud" of him.

US President George Bush described the Iranian seizure of the crew as "indefensible".

"I support the Blair government's attempts to solve this issue peacefully," he said.

There have been suggestions that the release of five Iranian officials held by the US since January could positively affect the navy personnel's case.

The BBC's Jim Muir, in Baghdad, said senior Iraqi officials were working separately to secure the release of the British crew and the five Iranians held by the US.

Earlier, Mr Larijani said he was committed to solving the crisis through diplomacy, and that putting the crew on trial was "not a priority".

'Guarantee must be given'

But he insisted in an interview with Channel 4 News he was "100%" sure that the navy crew had been in Iranian waters when they were picked up in the northern Gulf on 23 March.

"A guarantee must be given that such violations will not be repeated," he said.

The UK insists they were in Iraqi waters after returning from searching a merchant vessel.

It is understood that one area that has been under discussion between the UK and Iran is how future disputes over the contested waters may be avoided.

Previously unseen images of some of the crew, based on HMS Cornwall, were aired on Monday but their voices could not be heard.

One of those seen for the first time was 20-year-old Arthur Batchelor, whose sister told the BBC she was relieved to see him looking "tired but fine".

The Foreign Office is standing by its view that the crew, serving on HMS Cornwall, which is based in Plymouth, were detained against their will in Iraqi territory.

[Rasputin]

Tony Blair believes Iran wants to achieve an "early resolution" to the crisis over the Royal Navy crew through direct talks, Downing Street has said.
A statement was issued after further UK contact with Iran, including directly with its chief negotiator Ali Larijani.

However, both countries continue to dispute whether the 15 crew were in Iran's waters when seized on 23 March.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to refer to the incident in a news briefing currently taking place.

So far there has been no official Iranian response to the UK's proposal for direct bilateral talks.

But Iran's parliament speaker Gholamali Haddadadel welcomed the "change in tone" from the UK.

According to Iran's official IRNA news agency, telephone talks between Mr Larijani and Mr Blair's chief foreign policy advisor Sir Nigel Sheinwald took place on Tuesday.

Downing Street's statement said: "The prime minister remains committed to resolving this by diplomatic means".




Profile: UK captives
Why are the crew on TV?

Meanwhile, reports say an Iranian envoy is expected to meet five Iranians detained by US forces in Iraq since January for the first time.

The report from IRNA, which was not confirmed by the US, comes amid suggestions that the navy crew's case could be improved by a release.

Iran says the five are diplomats, while the US claims the men were providing support to militants in Iraq.

'Encouraging signs'

Mr Larijani, of the Supreme National Security Council, hinted on Tuesday that a new phase in the talks with Britain had been started.

But Downing Street's statement came after Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett had urged caution over hopes that the sailors and marines held by Iran may soon be freed.

UK VERSION OF EVENTS
1 Crew boards merchant ship 1.7NM inside Iraqi waters
2 HMS Cornwall was south-east of this, and inside Iraqi waters
3 Iran tells UK that merchant ship was at a different point, still within Iraqi waters
4 After UK points this out, Iran provides alternative position, now within Iranian waters



Both versions in more detail
Dividing lines of Shatt al-Arab

She said people had read a lot into remarks by the prime minister earlier in the day about talks with Iran entering a "critical" 48 hours.

Her comments were echoed by Home Secretary John Reid, who welcomed the contact with Iran but said there was no timescale for resolving the crisis.

"I can't put a time limit on this," he told GMTV. "The key thing here is that contact has been made."

Dual aims

On Tuesday, new photographs were released showing the Royal Navy crew.

The crew, from Plymouth-based HMS Cornwall, can be seen wearing tracksuits, smiling and playing chess.

IRANIAN VERSION OF EVENTS
1 Royal Navy crew stray 0.5km inside Iranian waters
2 Iran gives set of co-ordinates to back up their claims
3 According to seized GPS equipment, the Royal Navy crew had previously entered Iranian waters at several other points
4 Iran informs Britain of the position where the crew were seized, inside Iranian waters



Profile: Ali Larijani
Iran's centres of power
'Access' to Iraq detainees

Leading Seaman Faye Turney, 26, is not wearing a headscarf as she had in previous TV footage.

The naval personnel have been held captive since being seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the northern Gulf last month.

Iran says they strayed into its territorial waters, but the UK maintains they were in Iraqi waters after returning from searching a merchant vessel.

Foreign Office Minister Lord Triesman has had talks with the Iranian ambassador in London eight times since the crew's capture.

It is understood that one area under discussion between the two countries is how future disputes over the contested Shatt al-Arab waterway may be avoided.

[Rasputin]

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says 15 British naval personnel captured in the Gulf are free to leave.
He repeated Iran's view that the British sailors and marines "invaded" Iranian waters, but said they were being released as a "gift" to Britain.

They are expected to be handed to the British embassy in Tehran on Thursday morning before flying home.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the news would come as "a profound relief" to the crew and their families.

Iranian media said the British crew members "shouted for joy" on hearing the news.

The British embassy in Tehran said it had now seen the sailors for the first time, and it was arranging the details of their travel home. But it was not clear where they were spending the night.

Earlier, television pictures showed the Iranian president smiling, chatting and shaking hands with the crew at the presidential palace in Tehran.

HAVE YOUR SAY
Of course diplomacy worked, it was a diplomatic incident

Colin Campbell, Stockholm, Sweden


Send us your comments
Families' joy and relief
He joked to one: "How are you? So you came on a mandatory vacation?"

The Britons were wearing suits, rather than the military uniform and tracksuits they wore in previous pictures. The one female crew member, Faye Turney, wore a blue headscarf and jacket.

An unidentified crew member said: "I'd like to say that myself and my whole team are very grateful for your forgiveness. I'd like to thank yourself and the Iranian people... Thank you very much, sir."

Mr Ahmadinejad responded in Farsi: "You are welcome."


'Theatrical gesture'

Mr Ahmadinejad announced the decision to release the Britons at a news conference In Tehran.


The British government was not even brave enough to tell their people the truth

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad


Ahmadinejad excerpts
Ending it with a flourish
US welcomes release
He spoke at length, attacking the West over its policy in the Middle East, and it was more than an hour before he even mentioned the captives issue.

He repeated allegations that the Britons were captured in Iranian waters, and awarded medals to the Iranian commanders responsible for detaining them.

It was all part of the build up to his extraordinary theatrical gesture, says the BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Robbins.

"We have every right to put these people on trial," Mr Ahmadinejad asserted.

UK VERSION OF EVENTS
1 Crew boards merchant ship 1.7NM inside Iraqi waters
2 HMS Cornwall was south-east of this, and inside Iraqi waters
3 Iran tells UK that merchant ship was at a different point, still within Iraqi waters
4 After UK points this out, Iran provides alternative position, now within Iranian waters



Both versions in more detail
Dividing lines of Shatt al-Arab
Q&A: Iran's handling
"But I want to give them as a present to the British people to say they are all free."

He said they were being pardoned to mark both the Prophet Muhammad's birthday on 30 March, and the upcoming Easter holiday.

"I'm asking Mr Blair to not put these 15 personnel on trial because they admitted they came to Iranian territorial water," he added, referring to taped "confessions" made by the British sailors and marines.

Britain says the 15 were in Iraqi waters under a UN mandate when they were captured nearly two weeks ago. It says the confessions were extracted under duress.

"Unfortunately the British government was not even brave enough to tell their people the truth, that it made a mistake," Mr Ahmadinejad said.

The Iranian leader said no concessions had been made by the British government to secure the releases, but that Britain had pledged "that the incident would not be repeated".

'We respect Iran'

Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain's approach to the crisis had been "firm but calm - not negotiating but not confronting either".

He did not thank or address the Iranian president, but said to the Iranian people: "We bear you no ill will. On the contrary, we respect Iran as an ancient civilisation, as a nation with a proud and dignified history.

"The disagreements we have with your government we wish to resolve peacefully through dialogue. I hope - as I've always hoped - that in the future we are able to do so."

IRANIAN VERSION OF EVENTS
1 Royal Navy crew stray 0.5km inside Iranian waters
2 Iran gives set of co-ordinates to back up their claims
3 According to seized GPS equipment, the Royal Navy crew had previously entered Iranian waters at several other points
4 Iran informs Britain of the position where the crew were seized, inside Iranian waters

The solution to the crisis - freeing the Britons while rewarding the Iranian commanders of the operation - appears to be a face-saving compromise, says the BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran.

She says speculation is likely to continue over whether it had anything to do with developments in Iraq, where an Iranian envoy has reportedly been given access to five Iranians captured by US forces, and where a kidnapped diplomat was released on Tuesday.

Earlier on Wednesday Syria revealed that it had been mediating between Iran and the UK over the sailors and marines.

The family of one of the captives, Royal Marine Adam Sperry, hailed the announcement as "the best present imaginable".

"Whoever has been in the right or wrong, the whole thing has been a political mess, so let's just get them home," said his uncle, Ray Cooper.

[Rasputin]

An hour into a news conference marked by his trademark tirades against the West, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a stunner Wednesday: Iran would release 15 British marines and sailors it had captured in the Persian Gulf and held for almost two weeks. Early Thursday, the former captives departed Tehran, bringing to a peaceful end what had been a tense international standoff.

Calling the release an Easter gift to the British people, Ahmadinejad said the captives would go free immediately after his afternoon news conference. The 15 Britons, wearing civilian clothes and looking ebullient, later appeared with him outside his presidential palace, one of them expressing gratitude to him for his "forgiveness."
At about 8.30 a.m. local time Thursday, the entire group flew out of Tehran on board a regularly scheduled British Airways flight to London, the Associated Press reported.

"I'm glad that our 15 service personnel have been released, and I know their release will come as a relief not just to them but to their families," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday in a brief appearance outside his Downing Street office.

"Throughout, we have taken a measured approach, firm but calm, not negotiating but not confronting either," Blair said. "And to the Iranian people I would simply say this: We bear you no ill will. On the contrary, we respect Iran as an ancient civilization, as a nation with a proud and dignified history."

Family members said they were overjoyed. Some popped champagne in celebration. "We're absolutely over the moon," said Stephen Coe, father of captive sailor Chris Coe. "It's the best news we've had for a long time."

The stalemate began March 23 when 15 Royal Navy sailors and marines who were inspecting ships in the Persian Gulf were captured by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The British crew was conducting searches near the demarcation line that separates the territorial waters of Iran and Iraq.

Iranian officials said the sailors and marines had "invaded" Iranian waters and demanded an apology, while Britain maintained that the crew members were well within Iraqi waters and demanded their unconditional release. The ensuing standoff came as the U.N. Security Council stiffened sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

Tensions escalated when state-run Iranian television aired footage of the lone female captive, Faye Turney, in a head scarf, apologizing and stating that the group had "trespassed" in Iranian waters. Later, Iran released a letter said to be in Turney's handwriting in which she criticized Britain's presence in Iraq.

The broadcast and the release of the letter outraged British officials, who said Turney's statements were obviously coerced. Other captives were shown on Iranian television, and Iranian officials said all 15 had apologized and confessed, further inflaming the situation. Hundreds of demonstrators marched on the British Embassy in Tehran.

"After 13 days of confusion, the Iranian different power groups had got together and decided that now things should be finished," Chris Rundle, a retired British diplomat who served in Iran, concluded Wednesday. "I think they came to realize that with the international pressure on them, and with the so-called confessions from the captives, that was the most they could get out of the situation."

Ahmadinejad sprang his surprise during an afternoon news conference that had already gone on for an hour, leading analysts in Britain to believe he had no major announcement to make about the 13-day old crisis. After blasting Western policies in the Middle East, then awarding medals to the Iranian commanders who had detained the British naval personnel, Ahmadinejad turned to the stalemate over the captives.

[Rasputin]

The 15 Royal Navy sailors and marines held in Iran for almost two weeks are being reunited with their families.
The crew, freed by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a "gift" to the British people on Wednesday, touched down at Heathrow Airport at 1200 BST.

They were then flown to a Royal Marines base in Devon to see friends and relatives, and to be de-briefed.

Tony Blair welcomed their return but accused elements of the Iranian regime of supporting terrorism in Iraq.

'Dual strategy'

In a press conference given outside Downing Street, the prime minister said he was "glad" the crew had been returned "safe and unharmed".

He said "no deal" had been done with the Iranians to secure the crew's release.

He contrasted the rejoicing at the return of the crew with the "sober and ugly reality" of the deaths of four British soldiers in Iraq in what he described as a "terrorist act".


The crew were flown by helicopter to Devon

And he repeated allegations that there were "elements of the Iranian regime" that were "financing, arming and supporting terrorism in Iraq".

However, he said it was "too early to say" whether the UK troops had been killed by Iranian-backed insurgents.

The prime minister said the government had pursued a "dual-track strategy" of remaining open to dialogue with Iran, while "mobilising international support and pressure".

"In my view it would be utterly naive to believe that our personnel would have been released unless both elements of the strategy had been present."

Defence Secretary Des Browne said the navy crew, most of whom are in their 20s, had "acted with immense courage and dignity".

De-briefing

The navy personnel arrived at Tehran Airport early on Thursday in a fleet of official cars after 13 days in Iranian custody.

They had travelled first class on a British Airways flight.

CAPTURED NAVY PERSONNEL
Chris Air, 25, from Altrincham in Cheshire
Mark Banks, 24, of Lowestoft, Suffolk
Paul Barton, of Southport, Merseyside
Arthur Batchelor, 20, of Plymouth
Felix Carman, 26, of Swansea
Gavin Cavendish
Christopher Coe, 31, of Huddersfield
Dean Harris, 24, of Carmarthen, west Wales
Andrew Henderson
Simon Massey
Danny Masterton, 26, of Muir***k, Ayrshire
Adam Sperry, 22, of Wigston, near Leicester
Nathan Summers, of Hayle, Cornwall
Joe Tindell, 21, of south London
Faye Turney, 26, originally from Shropshire


Profiles of navy personnel
Two versions of events

At Heathrow Airport, the group briefly lined up in front of media before boarding helicopters.

They were then flown to Royal Marines Barracks Chivenor, in Devon, where they are being reunited with their families.

In emotional scenes, the sailors and marines dressed in military uniform, embraced relatives, friends and colleagues.

A de-briefing will take place later and they will undergo health checks.

BBC correspondents say military chiefs will be keen to assess the physical and psychological impact captivity has had on the crew.

Royal Marine Adam Sperry's family watched his return to the UK on television at home in Leicester.

His aunt, Theresa Fowler, told BBC News: "We are just longing to see him and put our arms around him and give him a kiss."

And Margaret Sperry, his grandmother, said it had been an emotional and difficult time for the family.

"I don't think I would have ever gone out of the door again if anything had happened to him," she said.

Iranian television has broadcast pictures and statements from several members of the crew, including the only woman in the group, Leading Seaman Faye Turney.

Before they left Tehran, she was shown saying: "Apologies for our actions, but many thanks for having it in your hearts to let us go free."

HAVE YOUR SAY
The UK government and its forces have been made to look like total fools

Bob, Dundee


Send us your comments

Commentators are divided over whether the release represents a diplomatic triumph for the UK, or a public relations coup for the Iranian president.

A senior government source said Iran realised it had made a "clumsy mistake" and had "not done itself any favours".

The source added the UK thought the matter might be resolved peacefully but had had no idea President Ahmadinejad would announce their release on Wednesday.

The 15 service personnel had disembarked from HMS Cornwall in the Gulf when they were detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guard on 23 March.

The Iranians accused the crew of straying into its waters, although the British have insisted throughout that they were in Iraqi territory.

[Rasputin]

British officials expected an angry rant when they heard that Iran's hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was going to give a news conference yesterday about the 15 British sailors and marines detained two weeks ago in the Persian Gulf.

Instead, the Iranian leader pledged to release the 14 men and one woman -- ending a crisis that may lead Tehran to claim a short-term victory but also pay a long-term price, according to Iran experts and Western and Iranian officials.
The Iranian government believes it scored a number of points, the sources said. As the Islamic republic faces growing pressure at the United Nations over its nuclear program, Tehran signaled that diplomacy -- rather than confrontation -- can defuse problems with the international community in the end.

"They got what they wanted," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA and National Security Council Middle East specialist now at the Brookings Institution. "They sent a message: If you don't deal with us, if you think you can push us around, you're in for some nasty surprises. But if you deal with us, you can get a 'gift.' " Ahmadinejad described the release as a "gift" in honor of the prophet Muhammad's birthday and Easter.

Efforts to free the 15 British detainees swung from behind-the-scenes diplomacy during the first week to internationalization of the standoff during the second week, when Britain won a statement of concern from the U.N. Security Council. The turning point, according to Iranian and British sources, was the exchange of diplomatic notes at the end of last week that shifted the process back to quiet bilateral efforts.

"There was a lot of activity the last two days to bring the level of rhetoric down," said a senior Iranian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Britain's diplomatic note last Friday promised to respect Iranian territory, he said. "This shows that there is a useful and conducive way to deal with Iran and that it is not through threats," the official said. "If Britain had not taken this to the Security Council, then this would have been resolved earlier."

Ahmadinejad, under pressure at home for failing to deliver on the utopian promises he made during the 2005 election campaign, may also have won a domestic propaganda victory, standing up to the West at one of the country's most vulnerable times since the 1979 revolution. The standoff with Britain deflected attention from U.N. Resolution 1747, which imposed new sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program. It passed a day after the British naval team was detained. And although Iran's Supreme National Security Council and supreme leader Ali Khamenei ultimately make key foreign policy decisions, Iranian television showed Ahmadinejad being thanked by a British sailor.

"He has come out more popular with his own supporters at the moment," said Christopher Rundle, a retired British diplomat who served in Iran.

At a time when five members of its Revolutionary Guard Corps are being detained by the United States in Iraq, Iran's most elite military unit also proved that it can play the tit-for-tat game, experts said. The British were seized by the Guard's naval unit. "The Revolutionary Guards wanted to send a signal to the U.S. and U.K. that 'if you mess with us, we'll mess with you. We know where you're vulnerable,' " said Riedel, who believes there is a link between the two cases.

The U.S. military detained the five during a raid in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on Jan. 11. Iran had expected their release three days before the British were detained. Although U.S. and British officials deny any deal or quid pro quo for the 15 Britons, the United States allowed the Iranians to be visited for the first time by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross and is considering permitting Iran to have consular access to them, U.S. officials said.

Yet Iran is also likely to pay a long-term price for the detention drama, again appearing to undertake rogue actions in violation of international law, experts and officials said. In the end, Iran recognized that the crisis was beginning to exact a cost, as it came under pressure even from allies and other Islamic countries, officials and experts said. Even Syria urged Iran to release the Britons, Syrian and U.S. sources said.

"They are so consumed with short-term issues -- how to undermine the West and how to gain leverage -- at the expense of long-term strategy. They have undermined themselves," said Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "They're playing the immediate moves of checkers and not the long-term strategy of a chess game. In the long term, it undermines their ability to attract foreign investment and have good relations" with the outside world.

Tehran was also unable to rally significant public support for another long-term showdown like the 1979-1981 hostage ordeal involving 52 American diplomats, experts added. "There was no nationalist bounce out of this," said Patrick Clawson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "All the usual people you'd expect to be frothing at the mouth simply weren't."

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Iran has pulled off a tidy little success with its seizure and release of those 15 British sailors and marines: a pointed humiliation of Britain, with a bonus demonstration of Iran's intention to push back against coalition challenges to its assets in Iraq. All with total impunity. Further, it exposed the impotence of all those transnational institutions -- most prominently the European Union and the United Nations -- that pretend to maintain international order.

You would think maintaining international order means, at least, challenging acts of piracy. No challenge here. Instead, a quiet capitulation.

The quid pro quos were not terribly subtle. An Iranian "diplomat" who had been held for two months in Iraq is suddenly released. Equally suddenly, Iran is granted access to the five Iranian "consular officials" -- Revolutionary Guards who had been training Shiite militias to kill Americans and others -- whom the United States had arrested in Irbil in January. There may have been other concessions we will never hear about. But the salient point is that American action is what got this unstuck.

Where then was the European Union? These 15 hostages, after all, are not just British citizens but, under the laws of Europe, citizens of Europe. Yet the European Union lifted not a finger on their behalf.

Europeans talk all the time about their preference for "soft power" over the brute military force those Neanderthal Americans resort to all the time. What was the soft power available here? Iran's shaky economy is highly dependent on European credits, trade and technology. Britain asked the European Union to threaten to freeze exports, $18 billion a year of commerce. Iran would have lost its No. 1 trading partner. The European Union refused.

Why was nothing done? The reason is simple. Europe functions quite well as a free-trade zone, but as a political entity it is a farce. It remains a collection of sovereign countries with divergent interests. A freeze of economic relations with Europe would have shaken the Iranian economy to the core. "The Dutch," reported the Times of London, "said it was important not to risk a breakdown in dialogue." So much for European solidarity.

Like other vaunted transnational institutions, the European Union is useless as a player in the international arena. Not because its members are venal but because they are sovereign. Their interests are simply not identical.

The problem is most striking at the United Nations, the quintessential transnational institution with a mandate to maintain international peace and order. There was a commonality of interest at its origin -- defeating Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. The war ended, but the wartime alliance of Britain, France, the United States, China and Russia proclaimed itself the guardian of postwar "collective security" as the Security Council.

Small problem: Their interests are not collective. They are individual. Take the Iranian nuclear program. Russia and China make it impossible to impose any serious sanctions. China has an interest in maintaining strong relations with a major energy supplier and is not about to jeopardize that over Iranian nukes that are no threat to it whatsoever. Russia sees Iran as a useful proxy in resisting Western attempts to dominate the Persian Gulf.

Ironically, the existence of transnational institutions such as the United Nations makes it harder for collective action against bad actors. In the past, interested parties would simply get together in temporary coalitions to do what they had to do. That is much harder now because they believe such action is illegitimate without the Security Council's blessing. The result is utterly predictable. Nothing has been done about the Iranian bomb. In fact, the only effective sanctions are those coming unilaterally out of the U.S. Treasury.

Remember the great return to multilateralism -- the new emphasis on diplomacy and "working with the allies" -- so widely heralded at the beginning of the second Bush administration? To general acclaim, the cowboys had been banished and the grown-ups brought back to town.

What exactly has the new multilateralism brought us? North Korea tested a nuclear device. Iran has accelerated its march to developing the bomb. The pro-Western government in Beirut hangs by a thread. The Darfur genocide continues unabated.

The capture and release of the British hostages illustrate once again the fatuousness of the "international community" and its great institutions. You want your people back? Go to the European Union and get stiffed. Go to the Security Council and get a statement that refuses even to "deplore" this act of piracy. (You settle for a humiliating expression of "grave concern.") Then turn to the despised Americans. They'll deal some cards and bail you out.

[Rasputin]

Iran's ambassador to London has said Britain should respond "in a positive way" to the release of the 15 Royal Navy personnel held for 13 days.
Rasoul Movahedian said that Iran wanted help to release five Iranians held by the US in Iraq, and to ease fears over its nuclear programme.

He told the Financial Times: "If [the British] want to be helpful and use their influence we will welcome that."

The crew have two weeks' compassionate leave to spend with their families.

Iran has said a press conference where the crew described being bound and held alone was "theatrical propaganda" that did not justify their "mistake".

Mr Movahedian told the FT: "We played our part and we showed our good will... now it is up to the British government to proceed in a positive way," he said.

Someone said, I quote, 'lads, lads I think we're going to get executed'

Royal Marine Joe Tindell


Captives: Key quotes

He denied that the release of the crew was linked to the case of the Iranians being detained in Iraq or any other case.

But he added: "If they [the British] want to be helpful and use their influence we will welcome that.

"We will welcome in general any steps that could defuse tensions in the region."

The ambassador also suggested the resolution of the dispute should be used as an opportunity to open up a dialogue between Iran and the UK.

"We share in the British people's happiness and we believe it is the right time for the British government to affirm its willingness to establish sensible lines of communication with Iran," he said.

The BBC's Jill McGivering told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that some analysts believed "a face-saving compromise was worked out after Britain and Iran opened up a new, high level and direct channel of communication".

'Key' US role

She added: "That has led to debate about whether a similar approach could also be applied to larger disputes with Iran from the nuclear issue to its involvement in Iraq."

However, our correspondent argued that "the key" to Western links with Iran depended on "how the US feels".

Sir Christopher Meyer, a former British ambassador to the US, said the outcome of the dispute meant that "Iran's standing in the Muslim world...will have been raised".

He said the capture of the sailors had resulted in "humiliation" for the UK.

Similarly, former Iranian diplomat Mehdi Varzi said the dispute was used by Tehran "to show the Arab world these British sailors were just normal people and could be taken at will", therefore undermining the image of western military strength in the region.

'Reasonable people'

He added that Tehran had used the situation to "project a slightly softer image".

Mr Varzi said Iran wanted to show that "if somebody comes to negotiate with them they are reasonable people".

On Friday, at the Royal Marines Barracks at Chivenor, Devon, the crew said they were told by their captors that if they did not admit they were in Iranian waters when captured they faced seven years in prison.

The officer in charge, Lieutenant Felix Carman, 26, of Swansea, said the sailors and marines were 1.7 nautical miles from Iranian waters when they were captured.

Royal Marine Captain Chris Air, 25, from Altrincham, Cheshire, said the crew had made it clear they were on a "routine operation allowed under a UN mandate" but that the Iranians had a "planned intent."

They are now safely at home but in our minds it was never a foregone conclusion that they would return safely

Faye Turney's parents

Lt Carman said they were taken to a prison in Tehran where they were stripped and dressed in pyjamas.

They were kept in stone cells, sleeping on blankets and held in isolation until the last few nights and frequently interrogated.

The only woman in the group, Leading Seaman Faye Turney, believed for at least four days that she was the only one still being held.

In a statement, her parents - Alan and Rosalind Boswell - said they were "relieved" that Faye and her colleagues had returned home safely.

"They are now safely at home but in our minds it was never a foregone conclusion that they would return safely, and so soon," they said.

The BBC's Frances Harrison, in Tehran, said Iran insists the press conference revelations were the result of sailors "being briefed" by the UK government who "dictated to them".

The navy is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident and the wider rules of engagement for UK forces operating in the area.

[Rasputin]

Anger as hostages sell stories to highest bidders


The 15 British military hostages released by Iran were accused last night of cashing in on the ordeal by selling their stories in a string of lucrative media deals.
The sailors, who spent 13 days in captivity and at times feared for their lives, have been given permission by the Ministry of Defence to give exclusive interviews. The MoD justified lifting the ban on military personnel selling their stories while in service because of the 'exceptional circumstances' involved.

The former captives are expected to make around £250,000 between them. Faye Turney, the 26-year-old seawoman, is likely to get the most profitable deal. She is said to have sold her story for £150,000 in a joint contract with a newspaper and ITV.
The development was criticised by politicians and relatives of victims killed in the Iraq war. Liam Fox, the shadow Defence Secretary, said: 'One of the great things about our armed forces is their professionalism and dignity. Many people who shared the anxiety of the hostages' abduction will feel that selling their stories is somewhat undignified and falls below the very high standards we have come to expect from our service men and women.'

Colonel Bob Stewart, a British commander of United Nations forces in Bosnia, told the Sunday Times that the MoD had turned a military disaster into a media circus. 'The released hostages are behaving like reality TV stars,' he said. 'I am appalled that the MoD is encouraging them to profit in this way.'

Rose Gentle, whose son Gordon was killed by a bomb in Iraq, said: 'This is wrong and I don't think it should be allowed by the MoD. None of the parents who have lost loved ones in Iraq have sold their stories.'

One of the ex-hostages reportedly wanted £70,000 for his story. There were reports that the Royal Marines were planning to sell the vases given to them in their 'goody bags' by the Iranians on eBay. The father of one of the hostages said the MoD had suggested the servicemen 'Go out there, tell the truth and make the money.'

It emerged yesterday that Iranian intelligence officers told the 15 captives they first became suspicious about their activities after watching an interview with one of them on British television.

Families of the hostages said their loved ones had told them the Iranians had made the claim soon after capturing them. On 13 March - 10 days before the Britons was seized - Channel 5 broadcast an interview with Captain Chris Air, one of the captured Royal Marines, in which he stated that his crew's role was to liaise with Iraqi vessels to 'let them know we are here to protect them, protect their fishing and to stop any terrorism or any piracy in the area'.

[Rasputin]

جنگ رسانه ای در مورد ملوانان انگليسی ادامه دارد.روزنامه های انگليس پر است از اخبار مربوط به گزارشات ملوان ها و تفسير و اظهار نظر در مورد اجازه فروش داستان به رسانه ها. اين بخش از گزارش ملوان زن که گفته است در انفرادی بوده و همه لباس های او به جز شورتش را از تن او در آوردند و به او گفتند بقيه را آزاد کرده اند مورد توجه خبرگزاری های بزرگ بين المللی قرار گرفته و به سراسر جهان مخابره شد. تلويزيون عربی زبان رژيم نيز تصاوير جديدی از ملوانان مرد را پخش کرده که آنها را در حال بازی و تفريح نشان ميدهد و بدرفتاری با ملوانان را تکذيب کرد. در زير نخست گزارش ايسنا و سپس گزارش بی بی سی فارسی را ميخوانيد.

ايسنا
العالم:
تصاوير پخش شده از نظاميان انگليسى در ايران ادعاهاى اين افراد را مبنى بر بدرفتارى با آن*ها رد مي*كند سرويس: سياسى خارجى

شبكه تلويزيونى العالم ضمن پخش تصاويرى از نظاميان انگليسى كه در بازداشت در ايران در حال بازى شطرنج و تماشاى تلويزيون بودند اعلام كرد كه اين تصاوير ادعاهاى اين افراد مبنى بر آنكه با آنها بدرفتارى شده است را رد مي*كند.

به گزارش خبرگزارى دانشجويان ايران (ايسنا) خبرگزارى آسوشيتدپرس گزارش داد: پرسنل نيروهاى دريايى انگليس پس از بازگشت به كشورشان گفتند كه در طول بازداشت چشم*هايشان بسته بود، در انزوا نگهداشته و مرعوب شدند و مجبور شدند تا به غلط بگويند كه زمان دستگيرى در آبهاى ايران بوده*اند.

اين گزارش حاكى است: برخى از اين كليپ*هاى ويديويى كه به صورت خلاصه* از شبكه تلويزيونى العالم پخش شد، تعدادى از هشت ملوان و هفت تفنگدار نيروى دريايى انگليس را در حالى نشان مي*داد كه گرمكن*هاى ورزشى به تن داشتند و شطرنج و تنيس روى ميز بازى مي*كردند؛ در كليپ*هاى ديگرى نيز آنها در حال تماشاى تلويزيون و خوردن بر روى ميز طويلى كه با گل تزيين شده بود، نشان داده مي*شدند. صداى خنده و گفتگوى آنها نيز شنيده مي*شد.

گوينده خبر كه از آغاز پخش اين تصاوير صحبت مي*كرد گفت كه آنها اثبات مي*كنند اين ملوانان در طول بازداشت در ايران در آزادى كامل بوده*اند و اين مغاير با چيزى است كه آنها پس از ورود به انگليس اعلام كردند.

فليكس كارمن، يكى از ملوانان دستگير شده روز جمعه ادعا كرد كه آنها فقط براى نمايش در رسانه*ها اجازه پيدا كرده بودند، دورهم جمع شوند

بی بی سی
پخش تصاوير جديد نيروهای آزاد شده بريتانيايی از العالم

فی ترنی برای مصاحبه با روزنامه سان بيش از يکصدهزار پوند دريافت کرده است
شبکه خبری عربی زبان العالم ايران تصوير جديدی را از ملوان ها و تفنگداران دريايی آزاد شده بريتانيايی پخش کرده است.
در اين تصاوير ويديويي، پانزده نظامی بازداشتی در حال بازی پينگ پونگ و شطرنج و غذا خوردن نشان داده می شوند در حاليکه ستوان فيليکس کارمن، يکی از دو فرد بازداشتی که دارای درجه افسری است و پس از آزادی از شرايط در بازداشتگاه به شدت انتقاد کرده، با دوربين شوخی می کند.

تصاوير جديد شبکه العالم با شرحی که نيروهای بريتانيايی آزاد شده از دوران بازداشت خود در ايران ارائه داده اند تفاوت دارد.

در اين حال، پخش اين تصاوير از تلويزيون ايران با چاپ مصاحبه روزنامه بريتانيايی سان با فی ترني، تنها نظامی زن در ميان بازداشت شدگان در ايران همزمان شده است.

خانم ترنی که پيش از اين نمايش تصويرش از تلويزيون ايران با انتقاد عمومی مواجه شده بود، در اين مصاحبه از نگرانی خود از احتمال تجاوز به او در حين بازداشت سخن گفته است.

به گفته خانم ترني، او در دوران بازداشت در ايران به طور انفرادی در سلولی تاريک نگهداری می شد و نگران آن بود که شايد نتواند فرزندش را يک ديگر ببيند.

گفته می شود خانم ترنی برای اين مصاحبه بيش از يکصد هزار پوند از روزنامه سان دريافت کرده است.


اين در حالی است که تصميم وزارت دفاع بريتانيا برای دادن اجازه به ملوانان و تفنگداران دريايی آزاد شده برای دريافت پول در برابر مصاحبه با مطبوعات با انتقاد شديد احزاب مخالف دولت و خانواده های کشته شدگان نظامی بريتانيايی در جنگ موتجه شده است.

سر مينگيس کمپبل رهبر حزب لبيرال بريتانيا در سخنانی نگرانی خود را از تاثير منفی اين کار بر کشورهايی که برای آزادی اين پانزده تن تلاش کرده بودند اعلام کرده است.

ويليام هيگ مسئول روابط خارجی در حزب مخالف محافظه کار نيز گفته است که اين موضوع را در جريان مذاکرات مجلس عوام پيگيری خواهد کرد.

در اين حال، هر دو افسر عضو اين گروه پانزده نفری می گويند قصد کسب درآمد از انتشار سرگذشت خود در مطبوعات را ندارند.

ستوان فيليکس کارمن می گويد در صورت دريافت پول بابت مصاحبه درباره رخدادهای دوران بازداشتش در ايران، تمام مبلغ دريافت شده را در اختيار موسسه های خيريه قرار می دهد.

سروان کريس اير هم با شبکه تلويزيونی آی تی وی از خودداری از مصاحبه با مطبوعات در ازای دريافت پول خبر داده است.

در اين حال هر دو نفر از اقدام ساير نظاميان بازداشتی در ايران برای دريافت دستمزد در برابر فروش خاطرات خود از دوران بازداشت دفاع کرده و آن را حق طبيعی آنان دانسته اند.

[Rasputin]

The Iranian military says it will soon release a film documenting the arrest, interrogation and statements by UK sailors held in Iran for two weeks.

It said it was a huge scandal for the UK military that some of the sailors had been allowed to sell their stories.

The military will release a CD and book about the arrest of the sailors - or, as it calls them, "British aggressors".

The statement came from the culture and propaganda office of the joint chief of staff of Iran's armed forces.

The suggestion is this film will prove Iran's contention that it treated the sailors well and they confessed to entering Iranian waters of their own volition.

The Iranian military has now supported the line of the foreign ministry, saying the British government forced the group to refute their earlier statements, making them read from a prepared text.

The Iranian military also says Britain has put on a childish show after the release of its naval personnel and instead of welcoming Iran's compassionate attitude, the UK again showed its aggressive nature and ignorance of international law.

It seems Iran and Britain are increasingly engaged in a media war over the sailors, trading accusations over their treatment nearly a week after they were set free.

[Rasputin]

جوانترين تفنگدار انگليسي دستگير شده در آبهاي ايران طي اظهارات جالبي مدعي شد، نيروهاي ايراني iPod او را ضبط كرده اند. به گزارش "الف"، آرتور بچلور 20 ساله كه با ديلي ميرور مصاحبه مي كرد اظهار داشت، ايران دستگاه پخش موسيقي وي را ضبط كرده و در عوض به وي لباس هاي كهنه و مندرس داده است.

اين تفنگدار انگليسي با ذكر اين نكته كه دستگاه iPod وي يك هديه بوده است، دلگيري شديد خود را از اين بابت ابراز كرد. بچلور ادامه داد هداياي آنها توهين آميز بود. لباس هاي اهدايي مناسب اندازه من نبود، ضمن اينكه ارزان قيمت و كهنه بودند و من مي توانستم بهتر از آنها را از يك بازار محلي بخرم.

اين تفنگدار متجاوز انگليسي همچنين اظهار داشت، CD ها و DVD هايي كه آنها به عنوان هديه به من دادند كار نمي كند، ضمن اينكه من دليل اهداي كتابهاي اخلاقي و مذهبي آنها را كه عناويني همچون "جوانان و اخلاق"، "خداشناسي"، "وحي" و ... را داشت نمي فهمم.

اضافه مي شود، قبلا مطبوعات انگلستان فاش كرده بودند، اين نظامي انگليسي از مشكل شباهت صورت به بچه ها - Having a baby face - رنج مي برد.

[Rasputin]

تونی بلر نخست وزير انگليس سکوت خود را در برابر رسوايی فروش خاطرات نظاميان انگليسی آزاد شده از ايران شکست .

به گزارش خبرگزاری انتخاب به نقل از خبرگزاری رويترز، بلر گفت :* اجازه دادن به نظاميان آزاده شده برای فروش خاطرات خود به رسانه ها فکر بدی بود.

وی در اين حال احتمال تنبيه عاملان اين رسوايی را رد کرد.

پس از چند روز جنجال ، وزير دفاع انگليس مسئوليت دادن اجازه به نظاميان بازداشت شده اين کشور در ايران را برای فروش خاطرات خود به رسانه ها پذيرفت .

دس براون ادعا کرد ، تصميم فروش خاطرات نظاميان را برای خنثی کردن برنامه های تبليغاتی ايران گرفته بود.

مسئله فروش خاطرات 15 نظامی انگليسی بازداشت شده در ايران با مخالفت شديد برخی اعضای جناح حاکم ، مخالفان دولت بلر و مردم و به ويژه خانواده نظاميان انگليسی کشته شده در عراق و افغانستان روبرو و به جنجالی بزرگ در انگليس تبديل شد

[Rasputin]

The headscarf Faye Turney was made to wear in Iran made us look at her as a woman, not as a seaman, says historian Lisa Jardine as she returns to A Point of View.
When I was a child - I think it began when I was about 10 - I had a recurrent dream, from which I would awake in a state of panic.

In it I was concentrating hard on some piece of school work (I was always a bit of a blue-stocking), when I was grabbed hold of by three or four grey and faceless people.

They put me into an over-sized greatcoat, and enveloped my head in a headscarf, then pulled firmly down over my forehead and knotted under my chin.

I would wake in terror as I realized that I was no longer an A-stream English schoolgirl with a bright future. The scarf had turned me into a cipher, a nobody.


My childhood was full of post-war images of seemingly interminable snaking lines of dispossessed people

Lisa Jardine


Hear Radio 4's A Point of View

It's easy now to see what the contemporary events were that fuelled the anxiety in my dream in the early 1950s.

My childhood was full of post-war images of seemingly interminable snaking lines of dispossessed people, people who had lost everything, the women bundled in ill-fitting garments with their hair shrouded, patiently waiting for bread, patiently waiting for visas.

I don't recall that we were ever shown the queues of Jews waiting to be herded on to trains on their way to the gas-chambers - that was an awful secret our parents preferred not to reveal to us. But I do remember that as the child of Jewish immigrants, every time I saw a girl just like myself, in a hand-me-down coat and a headscarf, I knew with absolute certainty that that could easily have been me.

The past is the place where we can focus without blinking on the feelings and attitudes of former times


That dream of mine and the situation that produced it - the movements of peoples forced into homelessness by circumstances beyond their control - are now part of history. They belong to Europe's shared, defining memories of its 20th Century past.

For me, as an historian, the past is the place where we can focus without blinking on the feelings and attitudes of former times, as they connect with, and enable us to come to terms with, ideas less easily grasped in the present.

History lets me see the "here and now" more clearly, to begin to understand and make better sense of the present. And so it turned out to be with my dream.

In the autumn of 1992, a pale young woman, her face barely visible behind a patterned scarf, and bundled in a men's duffel-coat, was ushered into my Head of Department's office in the University of London. She was from Sarajevo, and was working down the road from the college, cleaning offices.

Shock

Could she perhaps sit in on some of our lectures and classes? Before the collapse of Old Yugoslavia she had been doing a degree in English Literature at the University of Sarajevo.

Now, a refugee, worried sick about her family - the siege of Sarajevo was still going on, and she could get no word of them - she needed something that would connect her with her old life, something to give her new one meaning.

She handed me her documents. These, it turned out, contained not just her passport details, but also all her results from the three years of her degree course. She was a good student with consistently high grades; she would have graduated in the coming year.


A headscarf does not stop women pampering themselves

As I leafed through her papers, a wave of shock hit me. On page one of the booklet of official documents was her passport photo.

It showed a bold, smiling young woman with shiny, bobbed black hair and pearl earrings. She wore a smart dark jacket over a scoop-necked jumper, and her mouth was a bright red cupid's bow. She was, in other words, exactly like any ambitious, able, confident young woman her age.

The huddled figure in my office armchair was barely recognizable as the same person. Wearing that incongruous headscarf - a garment she would not have dreamed of donning in happier times - she had become a nobody, a lost soul. It was as if my dream had returned to haunt me, and was sitting in front of me.

Fortunately, we were able to do more for Sandra than simply let her sit in on classes. Her documented university record allowed us to admit her as a transfer student to the University of London. The following year she graduated with a good degree.

Over the next four years, we helped other young women from former Yugoslavia, who like her had walked out of a war zone under gunfire, and hitched rides across Europe to safety, to begin to build new lives for themselves. Several of them are now leading figures in their chosen fields.

Last week, my dream surfaced again. It came back to me in a flash as I watched the pictures on the television news of leading seaman Faye Turney, an experienced sea-survival specialist, and coxwain of the boat whose crew were seized by Iranian Republican Guards, wearing a scarf.

One minute, there Faye Turney had been, in naval uniform steering a small boat, on patrol in the waters that divide Iran from Iraq. The next thing we knew, she was dressed in shapeless garments and a headscarf, and appearing on television as a nobody, a vulnerable, defenceless little woman.

Just as I had feared as a child, her competence and training became invisible, she could no longer be seen for what she still was, even in captivity - a qualified person, doing a difficult job.

Sexual equality

For days, even after the detainees' release, the British press were mesmerised by the charade of Faye Turney's television appearances.

Last Thursday, I woke to hear Colonel Bob Stewart, the first British UN commander in Bosnia in the early 1990s, being asked on the Today programme by Carolyn Quinn whether the detention of British marines and seamen by Iran had raised questions about whether women soldiers and sailors ought to be allowed to serve on the front line.

Colonel Stewart believed it did. "People like myself are a little unsettled," he responded. "If that wasn't the case she wouldn't have been on the front page of all the newspapers for 12 days.

"So there is disquiet," he said, "among a lot of people in this country that a woman has been put into this position."

A piece of propaganda had proved shockingly effective with the British public


But what was making Colonel Stewart and the rest of us uneasy, surely, was feelings created out of the same stuff as my childhood nightmare.

A piece of propaganda had proved shockingly effective with the British public. Simply by the way they had dressed her, a régime which insists that, for modesty's sake, women must cover their hair and their bodies at all times, had succeeded in making us begin to talk as though there was something intrinsically shameful about allowing women the freedoms granted to their male counterparts.

Like so many of the rights won by women over the past 50 years, those of women in the army, navy and airforce have been hard won. Women now make up almost one in 10 of Britain's military personnel - over three-quarters of all jobs in the forces are now open to women.

Like my Sarajevan students before calamity struck, Faye Turney believed that in her chosen career she was on an equal footing with the men serving alongside her.

Tawdry episode

Interviewed by the BBC shortly before her detention about life on the edge of a war zone, she told us how she had wanted to join the armed forces since she was a child, and how proud she was to do so. Like my displaced students she had found herself a helpless ghost through circumstances beyond her control.

The most charitable interpretation we might want to put on her controversial appearance on ITV with Trevor Macdonald would be that she felt the need to set her image straight as well as to tell her side of the story.

The seizure of British naval personnel has turned out to be a tawdry episode for Britain and Iran. Hijacked by propagandists on both sides, no-one, I believe, has come out of it looking good.

But it has certainly reminded me how little it can still take, even in a country like our own, in which equality between men and women is a secure reality, to revive the ghosts of the past.

It still, it seems, only takes a headscarf - just as I feared, all those years ago, each time I woke in distress from my familiar bad dream.