EU calls for release of British personnel held by Iran

BREMEN, Germany (AP) — The European Union has demanded that Iran immediately and unconditionally release 15 British sailors and marines and warned of undefined "appropriate measures" if Tehran does not comply.

A statement from EU foreign ministers in Bremen, Germany, on Friday backed British Prime Minister Tony Blair's statements that the naval personnel were not in Iranian waters when they were seized a week ago after they searched a civilian vessel.

Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, said he would be in contact the Iranian leadership "in the coming days, in the coming hours" over the issue. He said he had already talked to Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, and would try to contact President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"The leaders of Iran have to understand this is not a bilateral issue" between them and Britain, Solana said. "The government of Iran has to understand that whatever happens to any citizens of the EU ... happens to the entire union."

"This is a mistake, this should not happen, this is not the way in which a country that wants to be a member of the international community should behave," he said.

The ministers also issued a statement calling on Iran to "immediately inform" the British government about the whereabouts of the captives and give British diplomats access to them — a British request that Iran so far has denied.

The EU statement said that "all evidence clearly indicates that at the time of the seizure, the British naval personnel were on a routine patrolling mission in Iraqi waters" in accordance with a United Nations mandate.

The seizure, the statement said, "therefore constitutes a clear breach of international law."

"The European Union repeats its call for the immediate and unconditional release of the British Royal Naval personnel."

If the British sailors are not released, the 27-member EU "will decide on appropriate measures," the statement said without elaborating.

Catherine Colonna, the French European affairs minister, said "the message to Iran is clear. Today we have given proof of our solidarity with Great Britain." She added the EU foreign ministers will return to the issue in two weeks if it is not settled by then.

The crisis over the seizure of the sailors comes at a time when Iran's relations with the international community are strained over Tehran's nuclear enrichment program, although EU diplomats were loath to connect the two issues.

The U.N. on Saturday toughened sanctions on Iran over its failure to comply with the demand that it freeze enrichment of uranium, which can be used for nuclear weapons as well as generation of power.

"We want to resolve the two issues, that of the British citizens and the greater one of the nuclear issue," Solana said after the conference.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said a letter from Iran on the detention of the sailors and marines had done nothing to bring the standoff closer to resolution.

"There is nothing in the letter to suggest that the Iranians are looking for a way out," Beckett said in a BBC interview, in which she also accused Tehran of using the detained British service members for "blatant propaganda" purposes.

"It is quite appalling and it is completely contrary to normal international convention to use people who are detained against their will, who have been detained for days now, to whom consular access is denied ... to use them for blatant propaganda in this way. I am quite horrified," Beckett said, according to a transcript of the interview.

Images of the detained crew have been broadcast on Iranian television, and Iran has released three letters purportedly written by the only woman among the 15 personnel.

Despite the strong words in the statement, some European diplomats warned against unnecessarily blocking normal relations with Iran and thereby escalating the dispute.

"We must put very strong pressure on the Iranians," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, who did not attend the Bremen conference, said in a radio interview in Paris. "I think we must avoid confrontation and escalation."

"Today, there is no freeze" in relations, Douste-Blazy said.

Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn appeared to echo that stand, saying on German public radio that "we must watch out ... that we are not always outbidding each other with sanctions or talking about freezing relations."

"I believe we are very much in solidarity with Britain in this case," Asselborn said. "We must naturally do everything we can to put on the necessary brakes, so that it doesn't explode."