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Row deepens over sailors

Atul Aneja

American warplanes fly close to Iranian coast

DUBAI: Tensions between Iran and the West are escalating rapidly after the seizure of 15 British sailors by Iranian troops in the Gulf waters last week.

On Tuesday, American warplanes flew close to the Iranian coast and carried out simulated attacks.

However, Kevin Aandahl, a naval commander attached to the U.S. fifth fleet headquarters in Bahrain said the aerial manouevres had not been carried out in response to the detention of the sailors.

Two U.S. aircraft carriers have been deployed in the Gulf waters, following the standoff between the West and Iran over its nuclear programme. The show of strength near the Iranian coastline coincides with a tough statement by British Prime Minister Tony Blair seeking the release of the sailors.

"I hope we manage to get them [the Iranian government] to realise they have to release them," Mr. Blair said in an interview with GMTV. "If not, then this will move into a different phase.'

Asked what that meant, Mr. Blair replied: "Well, we will just have to see, but what they should understand is that we cannot have a situation where our servicemen and women are seized when actually they are in Iraqi waters under a U.N. mandate."

According to U.S. officials, the crisis began after British sailors boarded an Indian flagged ship in the Shatt Al Arab waterway — a 125 km channel formed by the confluence of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. "It was an Indian-flagged vessel. It was suspected of being involved in automobile smuggling [into Iraq]," Cmdr. Aandahl, said. It was allowed to go after inspections showed that it was not ferrying any illegal cargo.

A section of the Arab media has been saying Iran wanted to tradeoff the troops with the freeing of Iranian personnel that the Americans had seized in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil.

However, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehzi Mostafavi has denied the speculation.

He said that a decision on the troops, who Tehran maintains, were detained in Iranian waters, would be taken after their intentions had been ascertained, Mr. Mostafavi said.

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