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Iran pledges not to run more sailor videos

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran and Britain softened their tones Monday in a dispute over 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran more than a week ago, despite an Iranian report that all 15 confessed to illegally entering Iranian waters.

Iran said by state-run radio that it would not air the alleged confessions, while a British official said in London that the two countries had agreed to discuss how to avoid future disputes over contested waters in the Persian Gulf.

The British official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. The Iranian decision not to air footage of the captured Britons was apparently made in response to “positive changes” in the British negotiating stance, Iranian radio reported, without elaborating.

Monday marks the sailors’ 11th day in detention since they were surrounded and seized by Iranian military vessels in disputed waters March 23. Iran has said Britain must apologize for the sailors’ illegal entrance into Iranian waters before it will consider releasing them.

Britain contends the sailors were in Iraqi waters when they were captured 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 to discuss the alleged incursion.

“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 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 Global Positioning System coordinates showing their location to be in Iraqi waters at the time of the capture.