Iran releases British sailors arrested in Shatt Al-Arab

Eight British servicemen were freed today after three nights in the custody of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, ending a diplomatic wrangle bet...

Eight British servicemen were freed today after three nights in the custody of Iranian Revolutionary Guards, ending a diplomatic wrangle between Britain and Iran.

British diplomats took custody of the eight men and flew them to Tehran where they were detained on Monday after straying into Iranian waters.

Diplomatic relations had already soured over British pressure on Iran’s atomic programme but British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw insisted today he still backed a policy of engagement with Iran, despite the arrests.

The eight were held in the sweltering province of Khuzestan in Iran’s southwest after they were seized on the Shatt Al-Arab waterway along the Iran-Iraq border. Diplomats who visited them said they had been well looked after. The Fars news agency quoted Revolutionary Guards saying they had given their guests a diced-meat stew. ‘‘At least now we can be pleased that they’re happy and released. And I’m told that they are in very good spirits and well cared for,’’ Straw said. — (Reuters)

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