Iran to release British sailors

From the Guardian Unlimited

Fifteen British marines and sailors held captive in Iran for almost a fortnight are expected to fly home tomorrow morning after the country's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, announced their release as a "gift" to the UK.

In a surprise announcement during a news conference at the presidential palace in Tehran, Mr Ahmadinejad said the 14 men and one woman would be "going back home" in a move marking the birthday of the prophet Muhammad last Saturday and acknowledging Easter.

Iran's IRNA state news agency said later they would leave Tehran tomorrow at 8am (5.30am UK time) on a flight to London.

After the conference finished, Iranian television broadcast footage of the British naval crew, who were detained on March 23, meeting Mr Ahmadinejad on the steps of the palace.

Dressed in grey suits, apart from the sole female captive, Leading Seaman Faye Turney, who was wearing a striped top and a headscarf, they appeared delighted.

"We are very grateful for your forgiveness," said one of the male captives, Lieutenant Felix Carman. "You are welcome," Mr Ahmadinejad responded in Farsi.

"You came here on a compulsory trip," the Iranian leader told another, getting the answer: "I don't know if I'd put it like that but you could call it that."

Downing Street welcomed the news but struck a note of caution, saying it was still establishing what the announcement "means in terms of the method and timing of their release".

However, the news prompted uncontained delight among relatives. Sandra Sperry, the mother of Royal Marine Adam Sperry, told Sky News: "I'm absolutely ecstatic ... I heard in Asda ... I think everyone thought I had gone mad ... we thought it would drag into next week."

Speaking in London, an Iranian diplomat said the next step would be for the detainees to be taken to the British embassy in Tehran before boarding a flight home.

It had been feared that Mr Ahmadinejad - renowned for being a hardliner and a critic of the west - would use his news conference to make more demands relating to the captives.

The initial signs were not positive - the president began with a long complaint about the invasion of Iraq, also criticising Britain for taking the case of the captives to the UN security council.

He also presented medals to three members of the Revolutionary Guard naval patrol that seized the Britons as they searched an Indian-registered merchant ship just outside the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which divides Iran and Iraq.

But in a dramatic flourish about an hour into the address, the president suddenly announced: "While insisting on our rights, these 15 sailors have been pardoned and we offer their freedom to the British people."

Iran repeatedly said the patrol had been in Iranian waters, but Britain presented GPS evidence last week that it said proved the UK personnel had been well inside the Iraqi zone.

Later on during his two hour-plus press conference, Mr Ahmadinejad said the British government had sent a letter to Iran's foreign ministry pledging that incursions "will not happen again".

A foreign office spokesman refused to comment on the specifics of any communication with Tehran, but said it had "made our position clear" about where Britain believed the UK crew was when they were captured.

There has also been speculation that the release was prompted in part by an agreement to let an Iranian representative meet five Iranians detained by US forces in Irbil, northern Iraq, in January.

Tehran says the men are diplomats; the US says they are Revolutionary Guards linked to insurgents in Iraq. There have been claims that Tehran orchestrated the seizure of the British crew with a view to an exchange.

The US insisted today that there was no connection between the cases. "Not that I am aware of," said a State Department spokesman, Tom Casey, when asked if there was a link.