IRANIAN authorities have begun legal proceedings against Britain's seized naval personnel and they will be punished if found guilty, Iran's ambassador to Moscow said.
“No kind of apology has been received from the British side and as a result the case has taken on a juridical form,” Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari said.
“If their guilt is really demonstrated, naturally it will result in punishment. I want to underline that legal proceedings have already begun,” said Ansari.
Tehran has so far refused to bow to mounting world pressure to release the 15 Britons it says illegally entered Iran's territorial waters. London insists they were on a routine anti-smuggling patrol in Iraqi waters.
Asked to respond to Ansari's comments, a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said, “It doesn't change our position. We want them released immediately. We have made clear they were seized in Iraqi waters and have demanded consular access. We have not had it,”
The crisis escalated after Iran aired new television footage on Friday of a British sailor “confessing” to trespassing in its waters and apologising.
The spiralling has begun. |