Television grab of Nathan Thomas Summers
speaking on Iranian television March 30, 2007. (Xinhua/AFP
Photo)
TEHRAN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran's state television showed on Friday a footage of a male British naval serviceman confessing to entering Iran "without permission."
"I deeply apologize for entering your waters," the British sailor, identified as Nathan Thomas Summers, said in an interview with the Al-Alam, Iran's state-run Arabic-language television.
"We trespassed without permission," he said.
Summers, who wore camouflage fatigues, was shown sitting with another British serviceman and Faye Turney, the only female among the 15 British naval personnel seized by Iranian forces last week.
His confession came after Turney was shown on Iran's television earlier this week admitting "illegal entry" into Iranian waters.
"We illegally trespassed on Iran's territorial waters and were arrested by the Iranian border guards and I would like to apologize to the Iranian people for the issue," Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted Summers as saying.
He said the Iranian forces captured the British sailors and marines in a friendly manner and treated them well.
"Since we were arrested on March 23, 2007, everything has been OK and I am quite satisfied with the current conditions," Summers said.
"Over the past days, Iranian forces have shown us a very friendly and good behavior and no ill treatment has been observed," he added.
Meanwhile, Summers also apologized for the illegal entry into Iran of British forces in 2004, according to IRNA.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned Iran on Friday for releasing new footage of the British naval serviceman confessing to entering the Central Asian state "without permission."
Blair told reporters in Manchester that the "parading and manipulation" of British service personnel would "fool no one," and would only "enhance people's sense of disgust with Iran."
Britain's Foreign Office on Friday also denounced Iran for showing footage of the detained naval serviceman confessing to illegally entering Iranian waters.
"Using our military personnel in this way for purposes of propaganda is outrageous," a Foreign Office spokesman said.
Last Friday, 15 British naval personnel were seized by Iranian forces when they were patrolling off the Iraqi borders.
Iran has insisted that the British boats illegally entered its territorial waters. But Britain said its soldiers were in Iraqi territorial waters.
The UN Security Council in a statement on Thursday
called for early solution of the 15 British sailors detained by Iran.
A television grab of Nathan Thomas
Summers speaking on Iranian television March 30, 2007. (Xinhua/AFP
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
TEHRAN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Another sailor among the 15
British naval personnel seized by Iranian forces last week has confessed to
"illegal entry" into Iranian waters, the official IRNA news agency reported on
Friday.
"We entered Iranian waters illegally and were
detained by Iranian guards," the male sailor was quoted by IRNA as saying.
"I would like to apologize to the Iranian people for
this," he added. Full story
LONDON, March 29 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Tony
Blair Thursday called for "unconditional release" of 15 British Navy personnel
detained by Iran last week.
In an interview with ITV television, Blair said that
"the important thing is we just keep making it very, very clear to the Iranian
government it is not a situation that will be relieved by anything but the
unconditional release of all our people."
"There's no alternative but to release them and the
longer it goes on, the more the pressure will be stepped up," Blair said.
"The next step is the UN statement. There's a whole
series of measures we can take." Full story
BERLIN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- European Union foreign
ministers will jointly urge Iran on Friday to immediately release the 15 British
sailors captured last week.
At a two-day informal meeting in Bremen, Germany, the
ministers from the 27 EU member states are to warn Iran to end its standoff with
Britain over the sailors as soon as it can, German news agency DPA reported,
citing the diplomats. Full story
TEHRAN, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that his country will "positively" examine Turkey's
request to release the female British sailor, state television reported.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged
Iran to allow a Turkish envoy to meet the detained British sailors and also
asked Ahmadinejad to release the only British woman sailor, the report
said. Full story
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