| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Fred Stone" |
| Date: |
01 Apr 2007 04:00:13 PM |
| Object: |
Brits to lick Iranian boots |
http://tinyurl.com/yqflod
Ministers seek deal with Iran for captives
By Sean Rayment, Tim Shipman and Patrick Hennessy, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 5:05pm BST 01/04/2007
Ministers are preparing a compromise deal to allow Iran to save face and
release its 15 British military captives by promising that the Royal
Navy will never knowingly enter Iranian waters without permission.
The Sunday Telegraph has learnt of plans to send a Royal Navy captain or
commodore to Teheran, as a special envoy of the Government, to deliver a
public assurance that officials hope will end the diplomatic standoff.
The move, which was discussed at a meeting of Whitehall's Cobra crisis
committee yesterday, came as Downing Street officials explicitly
cautioned against hopes of a speedy outcome and said that families of
the hostages should prepare for the "long haul".
The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the Foreign Secretary, Margaret
Beckett, have been warned that the impasse may develop into a long-term
stand-off. Privately, officials are speculating that the crisis could
continue for months.
The renewed search for a solution was given greater urgency when a
senior Iranian official said that moves had begun to put the 15 British
captives on trial.
Iran's ambassador to Moscow, Gholamreza Ansari, announced: "Legal moves
to determine the guilt of the British sailors have been launched." In an
interview with a Russian television channel, he said: "The legal process
is going on and has to be completed and if they are found guilty they
will face punishment."
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to make a formal statement on
the crisis on Tuesday. Last night, he denounced Britain's failure to
apologise and decision to go to the United Nations: "This is not the
legal and logical way."
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Mrs Beckett revealed that Britain has replied to a letter from the
Iranian Embassy in London, sent on Thursday, which called on the
Government to acknowledge that the sailors had trespassed into Iranian
waters and confirm that it would not happen again.
She said: "Everyone regrets that this position has arisen. What we want
is a way out of it. We want it peacefully and we want it as soon as
possible."
Defence officials emphasised that they were not preparing to concede
that the two British boats detained nine days ago were at fault. But one
said: "We are quite prepared to give the Iranians a guarantee that we
would never knowingly enter their waters without their permission, now
or in the future.
We are not apologising, nor are we saying that we entered their waters
in the first place. But it may offer a route out of the crisis."
Details of the strategy emerged as a former Falklands War commander
expressed fury at how the sailors surrendered to Iranian gunboats
without a fight.
Maj Gen Julian Thompson called for a review of the Navy's rules of
engagement, dictated by the United Nations, that they cannot open fire
unless they are shot at first. "In my view this thing is a complete
*****-up," he said.
"I want to know why the Marines didn't open fire or put up some sort of
fight. My fear is that they didn't have the right rules of engagement,
which would allow them to do this."
A former Iranian ambassador to the UN, Sayed Rajai Korasani, said that
Britain should be more conciliatory and called for a delegation of MPs
to seek the handover of the sailors.
--
Fred Stone
aa# 1369
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The lame troll hits! The lame troll hits!
You are mildly annoyed.
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