Blair crisis plan to free Iran captives

TONY Blair plans to raise the stakes over the plight of the British sailors captured by Iran, by activating the Government's crisis management team to deal with the escalating dispute.

The Prime Minister has ordered senior colleagues and civil servants to prepare to convene the COBRA emergency committee, in a sign of the Government's growing concerns for the safety of the 15 marines and Royal Navy personnel snatched on Friday in the Shatt al-Arab waterway.

The sailors and marines were moved to Tehran last night as ministers launched a flurry of diplomatic activity in a desperate bid to win their freedom.

As a war of words between Tehran and London grew, the Foreign Secretary, Defence Secretary and Britain's top civil servants were put on notice to launch into crisis mode and gather in the operations room below Whitehall as early as this afternoon.

Iran's ambassador in London was summoned to a second meeting as Britain demanded the release of the personnel, seized at gunpoint in disputed waters between Iran and Iraq.

Lord Triesman, a Foreign Office under-secretary, spent more than an hour with Rasoul Movahedian, demanding the safe return of the sailors and Royal Marines.

The Foreign Office described the talks as "frank and civil", and said the minister also sought assurances about the group's welfare and consular access.

The furious diplomatic manoeuvring came as the United Nations Security Council prepared to impose further sanctions on the Iranian government over its nuclear program.

Iran said yesterday that the seized Britons had confessed to illegally entering Iranian waters. It accused Britain of "blatant aggression".

But Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett and the Ministry of Defence said the troops were in Iraqi waters when they were picked up.

They serve on HMS Cornwall, based in Plymouth - the flagship of the coalition-Iraqi force which patrols Iraqi territorial waters in the northern Gulf to combat smuggling.

The British personnel, including at least one woman, had just searched a merchant ship when they and their two inflatable boats were intercepted by Iranian vessels on Friday at around 10:30am local time.US and British officials said the Iranian vessels surrounded them and escorted them away at gunpoint.

The British task force commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, said there had been no evidence of fighting.

Earlier this week a senior British military official said Iran was paying local militia in southern Iraq to launch attacks on British forces serving in the region.

British opposition politicians called on the government to act robustly and not allow the Iranian government to use the capture as a tool in the nuclear dispute.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: "The Iranian government should be left in no doubt that Britain's determination through the United Nations to prevent Iran acquiring a military nuclear capability will remain undiminished by the illegitimate abduction of our forces.

"The United Kingdom will not be blackmailed. Iran has a choice: to act responsibly or face greater isolation."

"We are doing our utmost in cooperation with the British authorities," European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said at an EU summit in Berlin. "They have our support and solidarity."

Solana said a second UN Security Council resolution imposing sanctions over Iran's refusal to halt its program to enrich uranium would go ahead regardless.

"The resolution will follow its course," he said. "It would be a tremendous mistake if these two things were mixed."

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