Iran To U.K.: Your Turn To Be Nice

The Iranian ambassador to London today urged Britain to help Iran mend relations with the international community after Iran showed its "goodwill" by freeing 15 captured British sailors and marines.

CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reports that Iran is calling on the British government to show a gesture of good will to reciprocate Iran's release of its sailors and marines — though the stories the freed captives have been telling suggest there wasn't much of that during their two-week imprisonment.

The British crew, who said they had been subject to psychological pressure and coercion in captivity, began two-weeks' leave with their families on Saturday, as The Financial Times newspaper published an interview with Iranian Ambassador Rasoul Movahedian.

"Now it is up to the British government to proceed in a positive way," he was quoted as saying.

"We will welcome in general any steps that could defuse tensions in the region," he added.

The British mariners, captured in the Persian Gulf on March 23, were freed Wednesday by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who called their release a "gift" to Britain.

Movahedian called on Britain to use the resolution of the crisis as a chance to "establish sensible lines of communication with Iran."

He said the key issue for Iran was recognition from the West of its right to a nuclear power program.

"That's the prime issue for Iran and I think that could help set a new basis for our future relations with Western countries," he said.

The United States and allies, including Britain, fear Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program under cover of its civilian nuclear program. Iran denies this, insisting it seeks to use the program only for nuclear energy.

The newspaper said Movahedian spoke before several crew members said on Friday that they had been blindfolded, bound, kept in solitary confinement and subjected to psychological pressure during their captivity.

They said they were coerced into saying they had been in Iranian waters when they were detained.

Marine Joe Tindell, 21, said he believed one of his colleagues had been executed on the second day of the ordeal. He said the crew believed they were being taken to the British Embassy to be released, but were dumped in a holding facility.

"We had a blindfold and plastic cuffs, hands behind our backs, heads against the wall ... there were weapons cocking," Tindell told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "Someone said, I quote, 'Lads, lads I think we're going to get executed' ... someone was sick and as far as I was concerned he had just had his throat cut."

Iran dismissed the news conference as propaganda — just as Britain had condemned the crew members' frequent appearances on Iranian TV during their captivity.

Britain's Foreign Office had no immediate comment on the ambassador's remarks. A spokesman said officials "will need to time to assess the implication for diplomatic relations with Iran" of the crew's accounts of their treatment.

Tehran says the crew was in Iranian waters in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, a long-disputed dividing line between Iraq and Iran. Britain insists its troops were in Iraqi waters working under a U.N. mandate.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has insisted Britain did not negotiate for the sailors' release, and did not offer an apology for their alleged trespass into Iranian waters.

On Saturday, the Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI had written to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to intercede for the release of the crew. Vatican officials declined to give details of the letter, although The Guardian newspaper reported that the letter had asked Iran to free the crew in time for Sunday's Easter holiday as a religious gesture of goodwill.

Movahedian told the Financial Times that the crew's release was not connected to the fate of five Iranians held by U.S. forces in Iraq. U.S. officials said last week that Iran would be granted access to the detainees, but denied the decision was linked to the fate of British crew. Britain also has denied a link.

But Movahedian indicated help from the British on the matter would be appreciated.

"If they want to be helpful and use their influence we will welcome that. ... We will welcome in general any steps that could defuse tensions in the region."

Despite the resolution of the crisis, tensions in the Persian Gulf remain high. The U.S. has two aircraft carrier groups off Iran's coast, its largest show of force in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The Guardian newspaper reported Saturday that the U.S. military offered to mount "aggressive patrols" over Iranian Revolutionary Guard bases after the sailors and marines were captured.

The newspaper, which did not name its sources, said Britain had declined the offer and asked the U.S. to tone down its military activity in the Gulf. The Guardian said U.S. forces "modified their exercises to make them less confrontational."

The Foreign Office declined to comment on the report.