Iran warned that 15 British sailors and marines could face charges for allegedly entering Iranian waters and rejected British requests to meet with the servicemen detained off the coast of Iraq. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki threatened unspecified consequences for the Royal Navy crew in comments to reporters in New York on Sunday. He described the charge against them as “illegal entrance into Iranian waters.” “In terms of legal issues, it’s under investigation,” Mottaki said.The government is not aiming to swap the 15 British sailors it detained for the five Iranians arrested in northern Iraq, the deputy foreign minister was quoted as saying on state television on Monday. In comments read out by a newscaster, Deputy Foreign Minister Mehzi Mostafavi did not say what Iran plans to do with the British sailors, but he said they were being interrogated and he rejected British claims that they were in Iraqi waters when the Iranian navy seized them on Friday.The capture and detention of the British service personnel increased tensions between Iran and the West, which were already high over Tehran’s nuclear program and allegations that Iran is interfering with the US-led war in Iraq.Britain and the United States have said the sailors and marines were intercepted Friday just after they completed a search of a civilian vessel in the Iraqi part of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where the border with Iran has historically been disputed.
