EU backs Britain on Iran, cautious on ties

BREMEN, Germany (Reuters) - The European Union deplored Iran's seizure of 15 British naval personnel in the Gulf and called on Friday for their immediate release.

EU foreign ministers expressed unconditional support for Britain and branded the arrest of the sailors and marines a breach of international law. They said the 27-nation bloc would take "appropriate measures" if Tehran did not free them soon.

The ministers did not spell out what steps they might take and stopped short of suspending normal business with Tehran over the week-old row as Britain has done. But they said they would return to the issue in two weeks' time if it was not resolved.

They mandated EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to seek the captives' release in contacts with Iranian leaders, making clear this was now an EU and no longer a bilateral dispute.

"The European Union deplores the continued arrest of 15 British citizens and underlines the EU's unconditional support for the government of the United Kingdom," the statement said.

"The EU repeats its call for the immediate and unconditional release of the British Royal naval personnel.

"All evidence clearly indicates that at the time of the seizure, the British naval personnel were on a routine patrolling mission in Iraqi waters," it said, rebutting Iranian assertions the sailors had strayed into Iranian territory.

"Should the UK citizens not be released in the near future, the EU will decide on appropriate measures," the ministers said.

They demanded Iran disclose the whereabouts of the naval personnel and give Britain consular access to them.

Solana said he would try to talk to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom the West has ostracized since he advocated Israel's destruction and questioned the Holocaust.

"I will try to talk to the president to pass the clear message that this is a mistake ... and this is not the way that a country that wants to be part of the international community should behave," he told a news conference.

REVULSION

The crisis coincided with a U.N. Security Council resolution at the weekend hitting Tehran with sanctions over its nuclear program. Tehran says it is not seeking atomic weapons and also denies U.S. and British accusations it stokes violence in Iraq.

Some European diplomats say the capture of the sailors may have been ordered by hardliners opposed to concessions on the nuclear issue to provoke a confrontation with the West.

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said the ministers had expressed revulsion at the way Iran had paraded the prisoners on television, some of them making "confessions".

Iran displayed three of the detained personnel on television on Friday. A letter purportedly from one said she was being held because of "oppressive" British and U.S. behavior in Iraq.

The EU statement was far tougher than a watered-down U.N. Security Council statement on Thursday that voiced "grave concern".

Solana said it showed the EU stood by its citizens and was a political union, not just a free-trade area -- an apparent swipe at Britain's minimalist view of European integration.

Several ministers indicated it was not the right moment to follow London's lead in suspending normal contacts with Iran when a diplomatic note from Tehran had raised hopes of a resolution of the dispute.

"We must keep contacts (with Iran), we must separate the different issues. This is a question on its own, which raises serious problems of international law," French European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna told Reuters.

In an interview with Reuters and the BBC, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the Iranian note gave no indication Tehran was seeking a resolution to the crisis.

(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau)