Iran says entry of Britons a "suspicious act"

Iran's ambassador Rasoul Movahedian leaves the Foreign Office in London March 23, 2007. Movahedian was summoned to the Foreign Office on Friday over the seizure of 15 British navy personnel by Iranian forces in the Gulf.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned what called the illegal entry of British naval personnel into Iranian waters as a "suspicious act", the official IRNA news agency said on Saturday.

Iranian forces seized 15 British servicemen on Friday in the mouth of the waterway that separates Iran and Iraq, triggering a diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened tension over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

"The Foreign Ministry's spokesman called the illegal and interfering entry of British forces into Iranian territorial waters a suspicious act and against international laws and rules and has harshly condemned it," IRNA said, revising an earlier report which did not include the word "interfering".

It quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini as saying:

"Violating the territory of other countries and non-permitted entrance ... show unusual aims and is against international treaties and there are no excuses for ignoring and not accepting the responsibility for that."

Iranian state television said on Friday Iran had summoned the British charge d'affaires to protest over the incident.

Britain said the servicemen were seized in Iraqi waters and demanded their release.

"We will continue to be in contact with the Iranians here and in London," a British diplomat in Tehran told Reuters, adding Ambassador Geoffrey Adams has returned to Iran.

"The Iranians have not confirmed to us where they are being held yet," another British diplomat said, adding that news reports indicated they were taken to a military base in the southwest Iran.

The United Nations Security Council was expected to vote later on Saturday on imposing new arms and financial sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, which the West suspects is designed to make atom bombs. Tehran denies the charge, saying it is only aimed at generating electricity.

(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair)