The 15 British military personnel freed by Iran after a two-week diplomatic stand-off arrived back in England today to cheers and to questions about the incident and its implications.
Dressed in military uniforms and carrying personal luggage, the group briefly posed in a straight line for pictures before they were flown by helicopter from London's Heathrow Airport to a base at Chivenor in for a private meeting with their families, medical checks and debriefing.
British Prime Minister, Tony Blair
The death of four British soldiers in Iran's neighbour Iraq has tempered joy over the return of the 15 marines and sailors, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.
"Just as we rejoice at the return of our 15 service personnel, so today we are also grieving and mourning for the loss of our soldiers in Basra who were killed as a result of a terrorist act," he told reporters as the plane landed.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference broadcast round the world yesterday he had decided to forgive and free the 15 even though Britain was not "brave enough" to admit they had strayed from Iraqi into Iranian waters.
Iran said today the group had been released because British Prime Minister Tony Blair had sent a personal letter of apology over the incident - a statement that was "categorically denied" by Downing Street.
The peaceful end to the stand-off, which began when the world's fourth largest oil exporter seized the 15 in the northern Gulf on March 23rd, prompted a drop in oil prices from recent highs.
After the flight left Tehran, Iranian television showed more interviews and images of the group, wearing civilian clothing, drinking tea and clutching colourful gift bags.
"The treatment has been great. It will be nice to get back and get home to see my family," said Faye Turney, the only woman in the group. "Thank you for letting us go. We apologise for our actions."
Even before the 15 had touched down, the post-mortem began on what closed-door deals might have been struck and just what it meant for future relations between Iran and the West.
"The (EU) presidency hopes that Iran uses this opportunity to find solutions to other issues in cooperation with the international community and the European Union," current EU president Germany said in a statement. "This applies in particular to the proposal by the foreign ministers of China, Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia
Echoing that view, Mr Blair said a dual track policy of quiet diplomacy and tough international support had paid dividends with the release.
"Over the past couple of weeks there have been new and interesting lines of communication opened up with the Iranian regime and it's sensible for us to continue to pursue those," he said. "However the international community has got to remain absolutely steadfast in enforcing its will, whether it's in respect of nuclear weapons or in respect of the support of any part of the Iranian regime for terrorism."
The dispute centred on where the Britons were when they were seized. Britain says they were in Iraqi waters on a routine UN mission. Tehran says they strayed into its territorial waters.