British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday that the 15 British sailors and Royal Marines captured by Iran were not in Iranian waters and warned that Britain viewed their fate as a "fundamental" issue."It is simply not true that they went into Iranian territorial waters," Blair said in Berlin, adding "I want to get it resolved in as easy and diplomatic a way as possible." He described the situation as "very serious" and said he hoped the Iranians "understood how fundamental an issue this is for the British government."
Earlier Sunday, Iran's Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador to protest what it called the "illegal entry" of British sailors into Iranian waters, state TV reported.
The move follows British and European Union demands for Iran to release 15 Royal Navy personnel seized at gunpoint in disputed waters between Iran and Iraq on Friday. Britain and the United States have said the sailors had just completed a search of a civilian vessel in the Iraqi part of the Shatt al Arab waterway when they were intercepted by the Iranian navy and detained.
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