UK-Iran row paralyses UN Security Council

The UN Security Council is virtually paralysed in the face of the UK-Iran row over the detention of 15 British sailors and marines as the confrontation between the two countries enters the second week. Though the Council had on Thursday issued a bland three-sentence statement, it took the 15 members all day to agree on the language of the press statement which, in diplomatic parlance, is the lowest form of reaction and is nonbinding. The statement did not even mention whether the Council thought the incident happened in Iranian or Iraqi waters.