Britain, Iran Edge Toward Diplomacy

Goal Of "Early Bilateral Discussions" Said To Be Shared To End Crisis Over Captured Sailors

(CBS/AP)  The British government said Monday that it and Iran shared the goal of "early bilateral discussions" to end the crisis over a captured British naval crew, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran did not plan to put the sailors and marines on trial.

Britain was responding to remarks by Iran's chief international negotiator, Ali Larijani, who said Iran sought "to solve the problem through proper diplomatic channels."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "There remain some differences between us, but we can confirm we share his preference for early bilateral discussions to find a diplomatic solution to this problem."

"We will be following this up with the Iranian authorities tomorrow [Tuesday], given our shared desire to make early progress," she said, speaking on the government's customary condition of anonymity.

Britain and Iran each struck a conciliatory note Monday in the then 11-day standoff over 15 sailors and marines captured in the Persian Gulf. Larijani told Britain's Channel 4 News that Iran was "not interested in letting this issue get further complicated" and had no plans to put the captured crew on trial.

"We definitely believe that this issue can be resolved and there is no need for any trial," Larijani said through an interpreter.

Larijani said Iran was seeking a quick conclusion to the crisis, which began when the British crew was captured by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf on March 23. They were detained while patrolling for smugglers near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway that has long been a disputed dividing line between Iraq and Iran.

But neither British officials nor former CIA officer Bruce Reidel expect an immediate end to the standoff, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

"This will end when the Iranians come to the conclusion they've milked it for everything they can get — and that could be months, if not longer, from now," Reidel said.

Tehran says the crew was in Iranian waters. Britain insists its troops were in Iraqi waters working under a U.N. mandate.

In a hint that the two sides were easing toward compromise, a British official said Monday that Britain was willing to talk to Tehran about ways of avoiding disputes over contested waters in the Gulf.

Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told CBS' The Early Show he wouldn't read too much into the report on Iranian radio. "I think we have to assume they're going to keep them a while longer and try to get something out of this."

O'Hanlon said Iran may be holding onto the British troops as the result of "some misplaced belief that this will help them in the nuclear standoff" with the West, over Tehran's secretive uranium enrichment program. The United Nations Security Council, including Britain, has approved two sanctions packages against Tehran in the nuclear dispute.

But, O'Hanlon said, "They could just be doing this out of their own nationalistic ideology."

[lars008-2009]

15 BRITS ALIVE OR IRAN DEAD!!!

1904: 'Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead!'
http://www.capitalcentury.com/1904.html

[clestes-2009]

This is going to be resolved without any military action. The real power in Iran is with the religious leader, not the prez and he does not want a war.

Iran will embarress Blair and by extention Bush, as they deserve to be, and then will release the captives. Also, these captive are not being abused.

If the war had gone better in Iraq, things might be different.

Is this working yet?

Cowardly Brits--I would sooner die than to admit I did something wrong.

[tbweb]

tbweb

What a proposal! I hope no Congressman is reading these comments. There will be no need for deportation, they will go home peacefully. But the question is those who say yes, how are you going to trust them in line of duty, particularly if Iran offered them $35,000.
Posted by diplomacy3 at 11:24 PM : Apr 02, 2007

--diplomacy3

Iran could offer them $70,000 but who wants to live in Iran under the rule of Islamic extremist and Ahmadinejad? When the entire World is against what you're doing via a unanimous U.N. vote and you go forward anyway like Iran is doing, it can only lead to disaster for your nation! While thats in progress you grab 15 hostages to add more drama on the eve of the U.N. vote no less! Forget the name calling for a moment but even putting the best face on it Ahmadinejad is at least ill.

[jfebiala]

I wonder if these video "confessions" by the captured British troops are done at gunpoint.

[zootallures2]

Now it's - Retired FBI Agent Missing In Iran

There are millions of children missing in the US and A. Why should I care about this old geezer? Or those stupid British sailors? I see they are smoking cigarettes and eating big meals.

Oh, because we are supposed to all care more about what self proclaimed "elites" and corporate ********** want. More than our own missing children.

That's all we hear all day "I wanna invade Iran... boo hoo hoo hoo." And all the rest of the $hit you spoiled a$$hole cry about on your brat media all day and all night.

Go invade it yourself. Take all the talkshow hosts, Bush, Cheney, AIPAC, CEO's, and the congress and DO IT YOURSELF!!!!

GET A LIFE!!! We have other priorities than your garbage. What kind of morons build towers they can't afford and then blow them up and blame other people?

I don't give a rats a$$ about the troops or any other idiot who can't see through this ridiculous sharade.

Danny Boned-head-********** is nothing but a f@g pedophile pimp from that one parent catastophy on a Manson family bus propaganda show.

O'Reilly, Hannity, Savage and Limpjaw are nothing but cheap infomercials to get child bombing green toothed trailer park demons to do their satanic dirty work.

[cjhr43]

ditto...

[j-whitman]

Good night, nice talking to you.

[j-whitman]

cjhr43 ,, Certainly no argument there -- Out with the old & In with the new... & let's get some people with real world veiws, honor & values..

[cjhr43]

I am more inclined to vote for the "person" than for the "party". If I believe in the person then he gets my vote. Usually that means a split ticket. I cannot find anyone so far that I am comfortable voting for. We do need to clean house. It won't matter who gets elected - corruption will win.

[j-whitman]

cjhr43,, I was an old Reagan man, Nixon pissed me off,, Reagan wasn't any good then came George H.W. ---- Now I'm a Dem, I've got my self respect back --
---- Conservative can meen many things to differant people, that's one thing that makes democrats stand out - They can be conservative & liberal at the same time... It's better for our democracy & our Troops.

[feelfree1]

cjhr43,

Re: "I am very conservative... but do not support the tactics used by Bush. I cannot help but believe that the almighty dollar has replaced everything our country stood for in the past."

I hope that the traditional Conservatives find a way to reclaim some power over the corporatist, goose-stepping, neo-fascists, that have come to dominate the Republican Party (and even the Democrat Party for that matter, to a lesser extent).

We need to find a way to recover some dignity for our selves, or we may be facing a relatively dim future, in my opinion.

Economically, we are already headed for big trouble, in my view.

The bill is coming due.

[cjhr43]

I used to be a Democrat... Polititians like Ted Kennedy ruined that... There are no Conservative Democrats in the running, are there? They all reek of liberalism.

[j-whitman]

cjhr43 ,,
One thing you can count on -- Another republican gets into office, count on continued bad policies & sacrifice from only our troops & thier families --- I could go on, but I'm a conservative democrat.

[cjhr43]

I am very conservative... but do not support the tactics used by Bush. I cannot help but believe that the almighty dollar has replaced everything our country stood for in the past. I have a nephew in Iraq and my prayers are with him... It is a nightmare but I do not have confidence in a solitary political figure. It will once again come down to voting for the lesser of the evils... but you can't even be sure of that. I am concerned about the future for my grandchildren... if there is a future.

[j-whitman]

cjhr43 -

You have no one to thank but these Bush supporters for keeping Bush & Cheney in office for 6 years.

[cjhr43]

You have to wonder what the "terrorists" think about our blogs... we do not sound like a United Country... no wonder they are looking for ways to tear us even farther apart... it looks easy - If we have so much disagreement within.

[j-whitman]

Someone ask "How many Americans are defecting to Iran?" -- Haliburton has been there for years + all thier subcontractors Bush's free traders Texas Big Oil company's = Too Many

[feelfree1]

tbweb,

Re: "Then I proposed they all (brown people) be the U.S. boots on the ground against Iran, if they make it back $25,000.00 bonus, use one of Saddams tactics!"

Actually, this was one of Herr Rumsfeld's ideas, several years ago (although I hear that Rumsfeld and Saddam were friends). So called "Green Card" soldiers have been serving for quite some time.

According to a 2003 National Review Online article:

"And the president last year exercised his statutory authority by issuing an executive order waiving the residency requirement altogether for people on active duty in time of war."

"These efforts to accelerate the citizenship process for "green-card soldiers" are commendable."

We also have the killers for hire, including Chilean death-squad trainees, working for death merchants, like Blackwater, and we have the John Negroponte backed Shiite death squads run amok.

We are still losing...losing our blood, our treasure, our respect, and our dignity in Iraq. The catastrophic U.S. invasion of Iraq is among the greatest disasters that our nation has ever faced, and it was foisted on the American people by a handful of greedy and myopic, tightfisted fools.