LONDON — Britain said it was freezing talks on all other issues with Iran until it freed 15 Royal Navy crew members seized last week, and the British military released what it said was proof its boats were within Iraqi territorial waters when they were seized.

CNN-Turk television meanwhile quoted the Iranian foreign minister as saying the female British sailor may be released later Wednesday or on Thursday. The Iranian Embassy said both countries were capable of resolving the crisis through cooperation.

Britain's military said its vessels were 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters when Iran seized the sailors and marines on Friday.

Vice Adm. Charles Style told reporters that the Iranians had provided a position on Sunday — a location that he said was in Iraqi waters. By Tuesday, Iranian officials had given a revised position 2 miles east, placing the British inside Iranian waters — a claim he said was not verified by global positioning system coordinates.

"It is hard to understand a legitimate reason for this change of coordinates," Style said.

Style gave the satellite coordinates of the British crew as 29 degrees 50.36 minutes north latitude and 048 degrees 43.08 minutes east longitude, and said it had been confirmed by an Indian-flagged merchant ship boarded by the sailors and marines.

Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons that "there was no justification whatever ... for their detention, it was completely unacceptable, wrong and illegal."

"We had hoped to see their immediate release; this has not happened. It is now time to ratchet up the diplomatic and international pressure in order to make sure the Iranian government understands its total isolation on this issue," Blair said.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Britain had frozen bilateral talks with Iran on all other issues until Tehran frees the crew.

"No one should be in any doubt about the seriousness with which we regard these events," Beckett told lawmakers.

Blair said he believed the crew acted sensibly in not putting up fight after being confronted by six Iranian vessels.

"If they had engaged in military combat at that stage, there would have undoubtedly been severe loss of life. I think they took the right decision and did what was entirely sensible," Blair said.

Britain and the United States have said the crew was intercepted after completing a search of a civilian vessel in the Iraqi part of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, where the border between Iran and Iraq has been disputed for centuries.

Iran has said the 15 were being treated well, but refused to say where they were being held, or rule out the possibility that they could be brought to trial for allegedly entering Iranian waters.

The Iranian Embassy statement said: "We are confident that Iranian and British governments are capable of resolving this security case through their close contacts and cooperation."

In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the case was following normal procedures, holding out the possibility that the Britons could be brought to trial.

He said the Britons were being treated well and that the only woman among the sailors, 26-year-old Faye Turney, had been given privacy.

"They are in completely good health. Rest assured that they have been treated with humanitarian and moral behavior," Hosseini told The Associated Press.

In talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Beckett demanded that British diplomats be allowed to meet with the crew to make their own assessment.

Houston Chronicle

London/Tehran - All 15 British naval personnel captured by Iran have confessed to illegally entering Iranian waters when they were seized, Iran state TV channel Al Alam claimed Monday.

However, the claim was immediately rejected by the Foreign Office in London, which reiterated its position that the sailors and marines were in Iraqi waters in the Shatt-al-Arab when they were captured on March 23.

'We can only reiterate our position. They've been detained against their will, we have not had consular access, we have made it quite clear they were seized in Iraqi waters, and we want them released,' a statement said.

The new claim from Tehran followed the screening of new footage on Iranian television in which one of two senior personnel 'confessed' to trespassing into Iranian waters.

The footage showed the two men, named as Royal Marine Captain Chris Air and Lieutenant Felix Carman, standing in front of a map of the Persian Gulf, stating that they had been shown computer records confirming that they had been seized inside Iranian waters.

The Foreign Office spokesman condemned the footage as 'unacceptable,' while sources in London said that diplomatic efforts to secure the release of the 14 men and one woman were continuing.

Monsters & Critics

Next two days critical in Iran standoff: Blair

London - The next two days will be "critical" in efforts to resolve Britain's standoff with Iran, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday, while noting a "prospect" of progress.

"The next 48 hours will be fairly critical," Blair told Glasgow-based Real Radio, while cautiously welcoming comments by top Iranian official Ali Larijani, who on Monday underlined the need for a diplomatic solution.

"I've read the transcripts of the interview (Larijani) gave and that seems to offer some prospect but the most important thing is to get these people back," he said, referring to the Iranian's comments in a television interview.

And he added: "All the way through this we've really had two tracks on this: one is to make sure Iran understands that the pressure is there available to us if this thing has to be hard and tough and long.

"On the other hand, to say all the way through we're not looking for confrontation over this and actually the most important thing is to get the people back safe and sound and if they want to resolve this in a diplomatic way the door is open."

His comments came after Iran and Britain on Tuesday started talks described as a first step towards resolving the row over the capture of British sailors that has further strained relations between Tehran and the West.

Larijani said the new contacts could create the conditions for ending the standoff as both sides toned down rhetoric previously marked by anger and mutual accusations.

"The British government has started diplomatic discussions with the foreign ministry to resolve the issue of the British military personnel," Larijani told state television's central news agency.

"It is at the beginning of the path. If they continue on this path then logically conditions can change and we can go towards ending this issue," he added.

Agence France Presse

The 15 British sailors and marines held by Iran were today flying home.

After 13 days in captivity, the group of naval personnel left Tehran on a British Airways flight to London Heathrow at about 8.30am local time (6am BST).

They were released yesterday after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad theatrically announced he was pardoning them as "a gift to the British people".

The British personnel, who reportedly sat in business class on the flight, were expected to land at Heathrow at about midday.

Before boarding the aircraft they received gifts given to them on President Ahmadinejad's behalf, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Iran continued its attempts to humiliate Britain by parading fresh pictures of the detainees being interviewed after their release, the latest in a series of stage-managed appearances.

News of their release was greeted with relief and jubilation by the families of the detainees, while Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was "glad" that they were being freed.

In a brief, carefully-worded statement outside the door of No 10, Mr Blair insisted that there had not been any negotiation with the Iranians.

"Throughout, we have taken a measured approach, firm but calm, not negotiating but not confronting either," he said.

He said that he bore no "ill will" towards the Iranian people and hoped future differences could be resolved through peaceful dialogue.

"I hope, as I have always hoped, that in future we are able to do so," he said.

Leading Seaman Faye Turney - the one woman in the group - was shown on Iranian state television thanking Mr Ahmadinejad for "letting us go home". She added: "We apologise for our actions."

Lieutenant Felix Carman said that he understood why the Iranian people were "insulted by our apparent intrusion into your waters".

Earlier the group - the men dressed in newly-provided grey suits - were shown shaking hands with Mr Ahmadinejad and thanking him for their release.

The President, speaking through an interpreter, even asked one of them in an apparent joke: "So, a kind of compulsory trip that you are on?"

The unidentified man replied: "Well, I wouldn't look at it like that, but you could call it that..."

It was not clear exactly what prompted the Iranians to release the group now, but Syrian officials claimed their country - an ally of Iran - played a key role in resolving the stand-off without offering any specific details.

The release followed the announcement on Tuesday night by Downing Street that contact had been established with the influential head of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, who is close to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Despite regular meetings involving officials and diplomats in London and Tehran, the Government had previously struggled to establish an effective channel of communication with the Iranians.

While the conversation - understood to have been with Mr Blair's foreign policy adviser Sir Nigel Sheinwald - was seen as a positive sign, officials were nevertheless taken by surprise by the speed of yesterday's announcement.

Mr Ahmadinejad said at his press conference that Britain had sent a letter to the Iranian foreign ministry pledging that it would not allow a recurrence of such an incident.

The Foreign Office would not discuss details of the diplomatic note it delivered over the weekend, although a spokesman stressed the Government had maintained that the personnel were in Iraqi waters when they were seized.

Mr Ahmadinejad built up to his big announcement with a lengthy denunciation of Britain - including its role in Iraq, Lebanon and even a coup which overthrew Iranian prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953.

He then ostentatiously awarded a medal to the captain of the patrol boats which captured the British party, before berating Britain for sending Leading Seaman Turney, the mother of a small child, as part of the crew.

"Why is there no respect for a mother's love?" he demanded.

It was then that he stunned watchers, springing his surprise that the service personnel were to be pardoned.

"On the occasion of the birthday of the great Prophet (Mohammed) ... and for the occasion of the passing of Christ (Easter), I say the Islamic Republic government and the Iranian people - with all powers and legal right to put the soldiers on trial - forgave those 15," he said.

"This pardon is a gift to the British people."

The news brought delight to the families after almost two weeks of uncertainty.

April Rawstone, the grandmother of sailor Nathan Summers, said: "I am just so happy today. Thank the Lord everything has turned out well for them."

While there was relief in Whitehall that the stand-off was at an end, there was also continued anger at the way the personnel were treated - not least the way they were shown on television "confessing" to trespassing in Iranian waters.

The Government has maintained throughout that they were in Iraqi territorial waters operating under a United Nations mandate when they were seized after completing a routine search of a merchant ship in the northern Gulf.

While the priority for the Government has been to secure the release of the sailors and marines, their return is likely to see renewed questions as to how they came to be captured in the first place.

The issues include whether there should have been greater awareness of the risks that Iran might try to seize US or British personnel for political reasons, whether they should have had close air support available and whether their rules of engagement are sufficiently robust.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: "There will be many lessons to be learned from this episode. But for the moment we should welcome this announcement and look forward to the return of the naval personnel.

"Their seizure underlines the difficult and dangerous tasks we ask of our Armed Forces."

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said: "We welcome the news that our Navy personnel will be released. I'm sure their families and the whole country are greatly relieved and we look forward to welcoming them home quickly and safely."

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