IRAN:The Iranian hostage crisis took another turn last night when Tehran withdrew an earlier offer to release one of the 15 captive sailors and marines and issued a second letter calling for Britain to withdraw from Iraq.
The letter, signed by seaman Faye Turney, was addressed to "representatives of the House of Commons". Although the letter was handwritten, it was stilted and lacked the personal tone of the first letter, sent to her family the day before.
"Unfortunately during the course of our mission we entered into Iranian waters. Even through our wrongdoing, they have still treated us well and humanely, which I am and always will be eternally grateful," the letter said.
"I ask the representatives of the House of Commons, after the government had promised that this type of incident would not happen again, why have they let this occur and why has the government not been questioned over this? Isn't it time for us to start withdrawing our forces from Iraq and let them determine their own future?"
A Downing Street source said: "It is a disgrace. It is cold and callous to be doing this to a woman at a time when she is being detained in this way. No one is going to accept this kind of behaviour."
"The important thing is we just keep making it very, very clear to the Iranian government it is not a situation that will be relieved by anything but the unconditional release of all our people," the British prime minister Tony Blair said. "What we have to do in a very firm way, is step up the pressure."
British diplomats around the world focused on building international solidarity aimed at isolating Iran.
They lobbied the UN security council, the European Union and an Arab summit in Riyadh for statements criticising Iran's actions.
British diplomats were hopeful that international solidarity would force Iran's rulers to rethink and focused on rallying the international community to Britain's cause.
In New York last night, the UN security council debated a statement of rebuke, but it looked likely that the stern language Britain wanted would be watered down.
Russia had been sceptical about endorsing a statement which claimed that the incident had taken place in Iraqi waters, which is disputed by Iran.
A European diplomat predicted "difficult" talks.
Britain hopes a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Bremen today will issue a sharper statement.
It was encouraged by France's decision to summon Iran's ambassador to Paris to the foreign ministry to demand the Britons' swift release.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, took a tough line yesterday, calling for an end to the "illegal" detention. - (Guardian service)