Amid relief, some Brits start questioning sailors

Reports of solitary confinement
Britain’s Sky News reported that an officer in the captured crew, Royal Marine Capt. Chris Air, had said in an interview three weeks ago that the team gathered intelligence on Iran during its patrols.

The Defense Ministry denied the team had any special intelligence role. It said they routinely spoke to commanders of vessels using the Persian Gulf and Shatt Al-Arab to determine who is using shipping routes.

British Broadcasting Corp. reported that the Iranians kept one of the crew members in solitary confinement. The BBC did not identify the person, but said the information came from the family of one of the sailors.

A military spokesman, Lt. Col. Andy Price, later said some of the personnel had been “left alone” at points during their captivity, but declined to elaborate until officials talked more with the team members.

Although several sailors appeared on Iranian state television, others were not filmed — raising the possibility they may have been separated from colleagues.

Several of the crew praised their treatment in interviews with Iranian broadcasters, but in a joint statement released as they arrived in Britain, the sailors and marines said that “the past two weeks have been very difficult.”

“By staying together as a team we kept our spirits up, drawing great comfort from the knowledge that our loved ones would be waiting for us on our return,” the statement said.

Videotape of the crew apologizing for entering Iranian waters, and letters purportedly written by Turney were widely publicized, and some British newspapers reacted with dismay. The tabloid Sun wrote that “nobody emerges from this crisis with credit.”

“The sight of the illegally detained British forces thanking Iranian tyrants for their freedom will sicken the nation,” said the tabloid’s editorial.

Daily Mail columnist Stephen Glover said he didn’t blame the crew for thanking Iran’s hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or for their confessions. But he said the overall impact would be clear.

“However much they may retract their statements when they return to safety, and whatever further ’proof’ the British Government may choose to produce, our enemies and detractors will believe we have been humiliated, and rejoice in that fact,” he wrote.

But Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the chief of the defense staff, dismissed questions about the crew’s conduct during captivity. “They did exactly as they should have done from start to finish and we are proud of them,” he said.

Skyrocketing oil prices
Stirrup also reiterated the British position that the naval team was operating in Iraqi waters when it was seized.

“We are absolutely clear the incident took place on the Iraqi side. We are going to have a discussion with the Iranians to ensure that we do not get into this situation again,” he said.

Wednesday’s surprise announcement by Iran’s president that the Britons had been released was a breakthrough in a crisis that pushed oil prices to six-month highs and escalated fears of military conflict.

Iran let the team go without the main thing it sought — a public apology from Britain — suggesting Iranian leaders did not want to push the standoff too far. A day after the naval team was seized, the U.N. Security Council imposed more sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment and the team’s capture drew widespread criticism.

A senior British government official said international support helped break the deadlock.

Countries ranging from Syria to Colombia pressed Iran for the release of the crew, whose capture began at the start of the two-week Iranian new year celebrations.

“By the time the senior Iranian leaders were getting back from their holiday, they were finding that their phone was ringing off the hook and they were finding that an awful lot of countries — including some quarters they weren’t expecting — were ringing them and saying they were in the wrong place and they should be releasing the people quickly,” the official said, on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

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