Britain Adopts Conciliatory Tone With Iran

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LONDON, March 31 — After more than a week of mounting confrontation over its 15 captured sailors and marines held in Iran, Britain sounded a more conciliatory tone on Saturday, saying it had responded to a diplomatic message from Tehran and was ready to peacefully resolve the issue. The British foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, also indicated for the first time that Britain regretted the incident. “The message I want to send is I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen,” she said after a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Germany. “What we want is a way out of it.” But the overtures seem to have been rebuffed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who was quoted by Iranian state radio as saying that Britain had not followed the “legal and logical way” to defuse the crisis. “After the arrest of these people, the British government, instead of apologizing and expressing regret over the action taken, started to claim that we are in their debt and shouted in different international councils,” Mr. Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying. “But this is not the legal and logical way for this issue,” Reuters reported from Tehran. Britain argues that the British sailors and marines were legally in Iraqi waters carrying out antismuggling patrols under the auspices of the United Nations when they were captured March 23. Iran, saying that the patrol boats were in Iranian waters, has broadcast what it characterizes as confessions to that effect by two of the captives. Mr. Ahmadinejad’s remarks added to confusion over the Iranian stance in the confrontation. Early on Saturday, a senior Iranian diplomat was quoted as saying that the captured Britons might be put on trial, but later the diplomat, Gholamreza Ansari, Iran’s ambassador in Moscow, denied having made the remarks to a Russian television station, according to IRNA, an Iranian news agency. He said his comments had been incorrectly translated. Mrs. Beckett had referred to the Mr. Ansari’s remarks as “saber rattling.” On Thursday, Ali Larijani, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, said the case “may face a legal path.” But even as confusion over Mr. Ansari’s statements swirled, diplomatic contacts between London and Tehran unfolded. The British Foreign Office said Saturday that it had sent a written reply to a note from the Iranian Foreign Ministry that had been handed over to the British Embassy in Tehran. The Iranian note demanded that Britain promise not to violate Iranian waters in the future, but it did not appear to contain a demand for an apology. British officials declined Saturday to give details of their response. Saeed Madani, a researcher and member of the Freedom Movement of Iran, an opposition political group, said in an interview that he believed the government reaction has been unclear because military officials want to take a harder line than most politicians. “To live longer and tighten its grip on power inside the country, the military branch does not hesitate to set off crises,” Mr. Madani said. “In the view of militarists, their survival is tied to creation, intensification and prolongation of crises.” “The political branch of the Islamic establishment has always sought to not stoke up tensions in the region and the world,” he added, “but with the arrest of Britons it has been presented with a fait accompli.” Some members of Iran’s Parliament declined to talk about the Britons’ detention, saying it was “too sensitive.” They say a parliamentary commission is expected to discuss the issue after the Nowruz holidays, ending in a few days. The question of the Britons’ location at the time of their arrest has been further clouded by arguments here and in the United States about whether there is a clear maritime frontier between Iran and Iraq. As the dispute escalated, both sides produced nautical charts purporting to show a clear demarcation of territorial waters, and the locations of the British boats when they were seized. But Craig Murray, a former British diplomat and Foreign Office specialist on maritime affairs, said, “There is no agreed maritime boundary between Iraq and Iran in the Persian Gulf. Until the current mad propaganda exercise of the last week, nobody would have found that in the least a controversial statement.” In postings on his Web site, www.craigmurray.co.uk,{cq} Mr. Murray referred to charts shown by the Royal Navy to reinforce its argument, saying: “The Iran-Iraq maritime boundary shown on the British government map does not exist. It has been drawn up by the British government.” On Friday, Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, was asked to talk to the Iranian authorities on behalf of the 27-member bloc. He has demanded that Iran allow consular access to the British sailors. Mr. Solana’s staff has already been in contact with Mr. Larijani.