Iran: All U.K. Sailors Have Apologized

Iranian state radio reported that all 15 British sailors and marines held captive by Iran have confessed to illegally entering Iranian waters, but in an apparent softening of the dispute said their statements would not air because of "positive changes" in Britain's negotiating stance.

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."

Iran's softer tone was mirrored in London, where an official said Britain has agreed to discuss with Iran how to avoid future disputes over contested waters in the Persian Gulf. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.

Iran has demanded an apology from Britain as a condition for the sailors' release. Monday marks their 11th day in detention since being seized by Iran on March 23 for allegedly entering Iranian waters.

Britain contends the sailors were in Iraqi waters when they were captured, however, and has said it would not apologize. It has also criticized the airing of footage of four of the sailors confessing so far, saying the statements appeared coerced and the broadcasting of captured military personnel violated international norms.

On Monday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman called previously aired confessions "stage-managed," and said Britain had not changed its demand for the sailors' unconditional release.

"The Iranians know our position, they know that stage-managed TV appearances are not going to affect our position," the spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. "They know we have strong international support."

Ministers were scheduled to hold a government crisis committee meeting later Monday.

"They've been detained against their will, we have not had consular access and we've made it quite clear they were seized in Iraqi waters, and we want them released," a Foreign Office spokesman said on condition of anonymity.

The British government says the 15 were operating legally in Iraqi waters, under a U.N. mandate, at the time of their capture.

The head of the Iranian parliamentary committee on foreign policy and national security, Allaeddin Broujerdi, said Monday that Britain should send a representative to Tehran.

"The only solution is for them to send an official to find out the reason for the invasion," Broujerdi told state radio. It was not immediately clear whether Broujerdi had government backing for his proposal.

Broujerdi added: "There is a need for a bilateral agreement to prevent such an event in the future."

Iran's ambassador to Moscow had said on Sunday that the sailors' case had entered a "legal phase," but backtracked from earlier remarks attributed to him that the sailors could be tried.

The alleged admissions of intrusion into Iranian territorial waters are not entirely new: Iran's military chief had said the day after their capture that the sailors had confessed after interrogations to illegally entering Iranian waters.

On Sunday, Iran's Arabic-language state television station, Al-Alam, broadcast footage of two of the sailors using maps to show that they were in Iranian waters when they were surrounded and seized by Iranian military vessels.
Britain has released its own maps and GPS coordinates showing their location to be in Iraqi waters at the time of the capture.

It is not known when or under what conditions the sailors' confessions were filmed, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar, but it's evident the statements were prompted.

One of the two confessions came from Captain Chris Air, who made it clear he was repeating what the Iranians had told him to say, reports MacVicar.

"About ten in the morning we were seized, apparently at this point here on their maps and on the GPS they've shown us, which is inside Iranian territorial waters," Air said on the video.

MacVicar says: "It is propaganda. It is clumsy, but it does serve to keep pressure on the British government."

Iran has brushed aside diplomatic overtures from the European Union, Japan and Turkey in recent days. And hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has taken a higher-profile role, declaring in his most extensive comments on the crisis that Britain and its allies were "arrogant and selfish" for not apologizing over what he called the Britons' incursion into Iranian waters.

Before the new video was released, Britain appeared to be holding out hope for a diplomatic resolution, saying it was in direct contact with Iran and examining options for new dialogue.

Britain's Foreign Office denounced the video, saying it was "completely unacceptable for these pictures to be shown on TV."

Many observers were already pessimistic.

"This is going to be a prolonged problem," said Dr. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a political scientist at the United Arab Emirates University in Dubai. "There are parties in Iran who would like to turn this into another test of strong will, and to show that Iran is capable of making the West meet its demands."

O'Hanlon told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Russ Mitchell that President Bush was unlikely to weigh-in too heavily on Britain's standoff with Iran.

"President Bush will only tend to stoke things worse," given the already sour relations between Washington and Tehran, O'Hanlon said. The president will do well to continue to "make simple factual statements and then try to stay quiet."

It had appeared earlier in the week that the Iranians were looking for a way to end the standoff quickly. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Wednesday that the only woman captive, Faye Turney, would be released soon.

Within hours, however, the Iranians were rolling back on that timetable, saying that Britain's "bad behavior" had prompted them to delay her release.

Hardliners within the Iranian leadership may have overruled the release, believing that Iran needed to assert itself at a time when it feels under threat from the West, some analysts said.

"They are saying they are a power to be reckoned with in the region," said Joost Hiltermann, a Middle East expert from the International Crisis Group, a think tank. "It's a very dangerous game. Anything can go wrong at any moment."

British officials have ruled out Iran's demand that they apologize for the alleged "illegal entry" of the sailors and marines into Iranian territory. Prime Minister Tony Blair insists the seizure occurred well inside Iraqi waters.