TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will prosecute eight British naval personnel seized in its waters, state television said on Tuesday, turning what seemed a minor border incident into a serious diplomatic spat.
The British government immediately demanded an explanation from Tehran of the television report. British officials have had neither access to the men, detained on Monday with their three boats, nor told where they are being held.
Quoting unnamed Iranian military sources, Iran's Arabic language news channel al Alam said the men would be prosecuted on charges of "illegally entering Iran's waters."
"The British confessed that they were arrested when they were inside Iran's waters," it said.
A Foreign Office spokesman in London said British officials were "trying to get the Iranians to explain" the report.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman said: "We want to resolve this situation as quickly as possible ... We have asked for full details and access to them."
Iranian officials have neither confirmed nor denied the al Alam report on prosecuting the Britons. Political analysts doubt Iran will press charges.
"There is nothing in Iran's interests to go prosecuting these people," said Ali Ansari, Middle East expert at University of Exeter, who pointed out that Britain, unlike the United States, has tried to engage with Iran's leaders in recent years.
"I think there'll be a couple of high-level contacts ... There'll be a bit of diplomatic toing-and-froing, then they'll be released ... in a matter of days," he said.
Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has told British counterpart Jack Straw he would personally look into the matter.
SEIZED BRITONS WERE TRAINING IRAQIS
Al Alam broadcast footage showing the British men dressed in military fatigues sitting in a room.
It said their small patrol boats contained weapons, cameras for spying and detailed maps of areas of Iraq and Iran. None of the Britons spoke during the broadcast.
Britain's Defense Ministry said the Britons were involved in training Iraqi police and had been delivering a small craft to the Iraqi Riverine Patrol Service when arrested. The boats carried only the sailors' personal weapons, it said.
Iran's Foreign Ministry has said the men are being interrogated to ascertain why they entered the Iranian side of the narrow Shatt al-Arab waterway separating Iran from Iraq.
A British military source acknowledged the British boats may have strayed into Iranian waters. "It was quite a confused situation. The weather was appalling and this happened in a confined stretch of water," he said.
Britain has had a rocky relationship with Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution and tensions have flared again in recent months over Britain's involvement in Iraq and its criticism of Iran's cooperation with U.N. nuclear inspectors.
A senior Iranian political source said the latest incident reflected internal policy divisions in the Islamic state.
While deeply opposed to the U.S.-led war and occupation of Iraq, Iran has turned a blind eye in the past to minor incursions by foreign aircraft and boats on its western border.
"The government policy is one of tolerance, but some groups are pursuing an isolationist stance," the source said.
