Legal moves under way in sailor case

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A legal process is under way in the case of the 15 British navy personnel seized by Iran eight days ago for entering its waters and they face punishment if found guilty, a senior Iranian diplomat said.

"If there is no guilt they will be freed," Iran's ambassador to Moscow, Gholamreza Ansari, told Russian television channel Vesti-24 in comments aired late on Friday.

"But the legal process is going on and has to be completed and if they are found guilty they will face punishment," the envoy added. A tape of the interview in Farsi was made available to Reuters in Moscow.

Iran seized the sailors and marines in the northern Gulf on March 23 when they were on a U.N.-backed mission to search for smugglers. Tehran says they strayed into Iranian waters but Britain insists they were well inside Iraqi territory.

Iran's official IRNA news agency earlier carried a report saying Ansari had told Vesti-24 the Britons could face trial. But IRNA later said Ansari denied the reported remarks, blaming a faulty translation.

"Iran's ambassador to Russia denied comments that a Russian television channel said he had made about the possibility of British soldiers going on trial in Iran," IRNA said.

Ansari told IRNA he had said the case had entered a "legal phase". But he added the television channel had made a "translation mistake and reported the possibility of them facing a trial".

In the tape of the interview made available to Reuters Ansari did not directly refer to any possible trial.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on March 25 Iran was considering charging the British sailors with illegally entering its waters.

Britain says its navy personnel were in Iraqi waters and has demanded their release, but Iran says they had crossed into its territory. Their capture and an international standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions have sent oil prices to 2007 highs.

(Additional reporting by Soheil Afdjei in Moscow)