DIPLOMATS seeking the release of British sailors and Royal Marines seized by Iran did not engage early enough with the top Iranian politician who appears eventually to have paved the way for them to be freed, an MPs’ report said today.
The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Marines – including Dalton seaman Chris Coe – were taken prisoner on March 23 while searching ships in Iraqi waters.
But it was not until seven days later that an approach was made to Dr Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said a report by the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
The committee said it was odd that the UK waited so long to ask to speak to the man whom experts suggested was in charge of the incident in Tehran.
It said an approach “should have been made much earlier”.
The report was also strongly critical of the decision to allow the released personnel to sell their stories to the media, and urged the Foreign Office to make public who was responsible.
The report said the decision was a disturbing failure of judgement and it was wholly unsatisfactory that a review of the Government’s media handling of the incident failed to identify the individual who took it, said the cross-party committee.
Today’s report was generally approving of the Foreign Office’s diplomacy following the seizure of the troops, finding that “although there may have been some tactical mistakes it is difficult to fault the Foreign Office’s overall approach”.
The committee rejected the argument expressed by commentators, including former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, that Britain had been made to look weak.
Leading Seaman Coe, 31, a former Rawthorpe High School student , was held hostage with his colleagues for two weeks before being freed unharmed.
