Britain must accept its 15 British sailors were arrested in Iranian waters before a solution to the crisis can be found, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said today.
Faye Turney speaking on Iranian television today
"Due to the nature of the issue, we should stand on common points for solving the problem. The first step being what is the real picture of the incident," Mottaki told Reuters in Riyadh.
"The real picture is that the British sailors were arrested in the territorial waters of Iran ... this must be accepted by the government of the UK," added Mottaki on the sidelines of an Arab summit in the Saudi capital.
"The second step is finalising and completing the investigation and based on these two points and by accepting these two points there could be a starting points for solving the problem," he said.
Iranian television tonight showed video images of the 15 captured troops in good health and eating a meal.
The video also displayed what appeared to be a handwritten letter from theonly female prisoner, Faye Turney (26), to her family. "I have written a letter to the Iranian people to apologise for us entering their waters," it said. The letter also asks Ms Turney's parents in Britain to look after her 3-year-old daughter, Molly, and her husband, Adam. The video showed Turney in a head scarf and her uniform eating with other sailors and marines.
Later, wearing a white tunic and black head scarf, she sat in a room before floral curtains and smoked a cigarette. Turney was the only detainee to be shown speaking, giving her name and saying she had been in the navy for nine years.
"Obviously we trespassed into their waters," Turney said at one point, her voice audible under a simultaneous Arabic translation. "They were very friendly and very hospitable, very thoughtful, nice people. They explained to us why we've been arrested. There was no harm, no aggression."
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett earlier told parliament Britain would freeze all official bilateral business with Iran apart from efforts to resolve the crisis.
Iran seized the British personnel last week and Iran insists they were inside Iranian waters at the time.
Britain said there was no doubt they were in Iraqi waters and entitled to be there when they were seized, repeating a demand they be released.
Britain's Defence Ministry said that global positioning data showed the British sailors and marines were 1.7 nautical miles within Iraqi waters when they were captured by Iranian gunboats.
"No, these (Iranian views) are very exact facts," he said when asked for comment.
Asked to confirm reports that Tehran plans to release Faye Turney, the only British servicewoman held along with 14 sailors and Marines, by Thursday, Mottaki said: "As soon as possible."