Iran to air British sailor's 'confession'

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran said it will air an interview on Friday showing one of 15 captive British sailors confessing that they had entered Iranian waters, as the diplomatic row entered its second week.

"One of the 15 British sailors will give more information about how they entered Iranian waters in an interview," Iran's state-run news channel said, the latest move in the propaganda war over the detained Britons.

The UN Security Council on Thursday expressed "grave concern" at Iran's continued detention of the 15 who were seized in Gulf waters last Friday although it failed to back Britain and demand their immediate release.

Iran has said it will examine "in a positive way" a Turkish request to free Faye Turney and for the Turkish ambassador to see the Britons, whose capture has triggered another standoff between the Islamic republic and the West.

Tehran initially said the female sailor would be released "within a day or two," but backed off on Thursday, citing Britain's "incorrect" attitude after London announced the suspension of all ties with the Islamic republic and took the dispute to the United Nations.

After more than four hours of haggling and strong Russian reservations, the UN Security Council voiced "grave concern" and urged Tehran to allow "consular access" to the 15 Britons who are being held in a secret location.

The council backed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's call in talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki for "an early resolution of the problem, including the release" of the 15.

But Britain had wanted the statement to call for the sailors' "immediate release" and to note that they were in Iraqi waters when detained.

Iran responded by accusing the Council of being "exploited" and insisted that the sailors "had violated the internationally recognised border between Iran and Iraq."

Britain insists the 15 were in Iraqi waters carrying out routine anti-smuggling operations when the were seized.

And the Foreign Office put a brave face on the non-binding UN statement.

"The statement that was agreed, it's a text which secured unanimous agreement, and its a clear statement of the members of the Security Council representing the international community," a Foreign Office spokeswoman told AFP.

"We now need to move forward to get our 15 people released as soon as possible," she added.

Britain is now hoping to get a statement of support at an EU foreign ministers meeting in the German city of Bremen on Friday.

Germany, as the current EU president has already expressed support for Britain's case as has EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and French President Jacques Chirac.

But speaking on Iranian state television Thursday, Iran's foreign minister made it clear that London must recognize a violation of Iranian territorial waters if it wanted to help resolve the crisis.

Meanwhile Britain confirmed that its embassy in Tehran has received a "formal note" from the Iranian government, but declined to provide details about the message.

"Such exchanges are always confidential, so we cannot divulge any details. But we are giving the message serious consideration, and will soon respond formally to the Iranian government," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

Both Britain and Iran have produced maps and global positioning system (GPS) coordinates to back their cases over where the sailors were.

Britain has called the detentions an "ambush" and said that Iran had changed the GPS coordinates of the two British patrol boats to make it appear they were in Iranian waters.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told the Daily Telegraph that she believed the sailors' detention to be "clearly very much like a cock-up" and not a conspiracy.

The United States, which is conducting naval exercises in Gulf, reiterated its strong backing for its British ally.

"The British government, I think, has gone out and demonstrated that these people were in international waters," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told US television.

"I think they need to be released and the international community needs to say to Iran that they need to be released and that is what we're doing. We're trying to do anything that we can with other parties to help the British," she added.

Iran meanwhile released the text of a second letter written by the British female captive in which she was quoted as saying that British troops should leave Iraq.

"Isn't it time to start withdrawing our forces from Iraq and let them determine their own future?" Turney was quoted as saying in the letter to her member of parliament, which was published by the official IRNA news agency.

London was quick to condemn the letter, with Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett calling it "outrageous and cruel".

Britain also complained after Iran showed television footage of Turney and the other captives on Wednesday. Turney was then quoted as having acknowledged that the Britons had gone into Iranian territory.