Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Wednesday that 15 British sailors captured almost two weeks ago in the Gulf had been pardoned and would be freed imminently as "a gift."His surprise pledge at a much-anticipated news conference in Tehran was quickly welcomed by Downing Street and the brother of one of the 15 detained sailors and marines.
"Although Iran has the right to prosecute them by following the model of the Prophet the 15 people were pardoned and their freedom given as a gift to the British people," Ahmadinejad said.
He said that the 14 men and one woman, some of whom had been paraded several times on state television "confessing" to trespassing in Iranian waters, would be freed after the press conference and taken straight to the airport.
"After the news conference they can go to the airport and go back home," Ahmadinejad said.
"They will be going back home today."
A spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the unexpected announcement while Nick Summers, the brother of one captive Nathan Summers, said that it was "brilliant news."
Iranian state media said that the 15, who had been captured while patrolling in the Gulf 13 days ago, "shouted for joy" when the news of their release was broken.
A British embassy spokesman in Tehran declined to comment on whether the announcement had taken London by surprise. "We are following up the details now," he said.
The standoff had further damaged ties between Tehran and the West already frayed by Iran's controversial nuclear program, and had sent jitters through world oil and financial markets.
Oil prices - which have surged to near seven month highs over the crisis fell on the news of the release, while US share prices opened slightly higher.
However, Iran's hardline president - who had postponed the conference from Tuesday - lashed out at Britain over its handling of the 13-day crisis and decorated a Revolutionary Guards commander who had seized the Britons in the northern Gulf.
"The Blair government chose the path of media hype and sent the issue to the UN Security Council," Ahmadinejad said. "The British people can ask its government what the British soldiers are doing in Iraq or in Iranian waters," he said.
His announcement came after Iran had applauded a "change of tone" from Britain following talks between top security official Ali Larijani and Blair's chief foreign policy advisor Sir Nigel Sheinwald late Tuesday.
Iran had insisted that the key to resolving the crisis was an admission from Britain that the sailors and marines did intrude into Iranian territorial waters when they were seized March 23.
Britain maintains that the group was carrying out routine anti-smuggling operations in Iraqi waters in line with a UN mandate, but Iran says that the sailors' Global Positioning System (GPS) devices show that they intruded on Iranian waters.
The latest developments coincided with the release in Baghdad of an Iranian diplomat kidnapped in Iraq in early February.
Iran had blamed US forces in the country for the abduction. Iranian state media also said that five Iranian officials captured by US forces in northern Iraq in January and accused of seeking to stir trouble were expected to receive their first visit by an Iranian diplomat.
Asked if the five Iranians should be freed to favor a possible release of the Britons, US President George W. Bush had insisted that there should be no "quid pro quos."
New still images were released Tuesday of the detained sailors and marines, showing them "relaxing" in tracksuits and playing chess, a change from the previous string of video "confessions."
The crisis has come at a perilous time for Iran's relations with the West, with the United States refusing to rule out military action over the Iranian nuclear program and the United Nations imposing tough new sanctions.
In a separate affair, local officials denied US reports that a missing former US FBI agency had disappeared while on a private visit to Iran's southern resort island of Kish, state media reported.
The French foreign ministry also announced that a French researcher was being held against his will in Iran after police seized his passport while he was traveling in a province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce