Kuwait Times

Published Date: April 02, 2007

TEHRAN:  Hundreds of students threw rocks and firecrackers at the British Embassy yesterday, calling for the expulsion of the country's ambassador because of the standoff over Iran's capture of 15 British sailors and marines. The demonstration stood in stark contrast to statements made yesterday by British government officials that they were looking for new ways to resolve the crisis peacefully.  Several dozen policemen prevented the protesters from entering the embassy compound, although a few briefly scaled a fence outside the facility's walls before being pushed back, according to an AP reporter at the scene. One witness counted eight blasts from the embassy compound.

The protesters chanted "Death to Britain" and "Death to America" as they hurled stones into the courtyard of the embassy. They also shouted "the British spies should be tried". In speeches made before the students turned on the compound, they demanded the Iranian government expel the British ambassador and close down the embassy, calling it a "den of spies". They also advised Tehran not to release Faye Turney, the lone female sailor held captive, or show any flexibility until the British apologised for violating Iran's borders. 

Iran's official Arabic-language television channel yestreday aired short video clips of what it said were two of the 15 captured British sailors who in the footage pointed to a map of the Arabian Gulf. Government-run Al-Alam TV said the two sailors were identifying where their boat crossed into Iranian waters on March 23, leading to their capture.

The two soldiers, who appeared in separate video clips wearing military fatigues and pointing at the same map, were talking to a camera, but Al-Alam did not air their voices. Instead, the newscaster said the two "have confessed" to trespassing into Iranian waters "illegally." The

newscaster also gave more details about the incident, saying the 15 left their ship in a small boat in the morning of March 23 and entered the Iranian waters at 10 am local time. The TV broadcast also said the captured sailors have said that they are receiving "good and humanitarian treatment."

Earlier yesterday, Al-Alam, reported without quoting any officials by name that two US airplanes had violated Iranian air space in the southwestern oil-rich province of Khuzestan. But a US military spokesman, Air Force Lt Col Mike Pierson, said there were no reports of any US aircraft violating Iranian airspace."

Two aircraft trespassed into Iranian airspace northwest of (the southwestern port city of) Abadan before flying southwest into Iraq," a local Revolutionary Guards commander in Abadan identified only as Colonel Aqili was quoted as saying on the channel's website. "The planes left white vapour trails, attracting the local people's attention," he said, without elaborating on when the alleged incursion took place. The incident happened close to Iran's border with Iraq, where the US and British military are deployed in force.

Britain and Iran are at a standoff over the eight British sailors and seven marines who were detained by Iranian naval units on March 23 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. Britain said they were in Iraqi waters when detained, but Iran has contended the Britons entered its waters illegally.

A British Foreign Office spokeswoman in London, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government rules, said the demonstration had not caused damage to the embassy and diplomats inside continued to work. "There is a police presence outside and there is no risk to those inside," said the spokeswoman. 

Before the protest took place, British government officials said they were examining new options for dialogue with Tehran, but refused to discuss a report by the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that a naval officer would be sent to Tehran as a special envoy to negotiate the return of the personnel. The report claimed the official would deliver an assurance that British naval crews would never deliberately enter Iranian waters without permission.

Transport Minister Douglas Alexander told the British Broadcasting Corp's Sunday AM programme that Britain was engaged in "exploring the potential for dialogue with the Iranians." British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett appeared to soften rhetoric against Iran Saturday - though she stopped far short of the apology sought by many in Iran.  "I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen," Beckett said in Bremen, Germany, before returning to England. "What we want is a way out of it."

Comments made by US President George W Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday used a more confrontational tone. Bush called for the release of the sailors and marines, labelling their capture "inexcusable behaviour". "Iran must give back the hostages," Bush said. "They're innocent, they did nothing wrong, and they were summarily plucked out of waters."

Ahmadinejad called world powers "arrogant" for refusing to apologise. "Instead of apologising over trespassing by British forces, the world arrogant powers issue statements and deliver speeches," Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying during a speech in the southeastern city of Andinmeshk. - Agencies