Downing Street Says

Asked if there were any plans to publish the GPS coordinates of where the British personnel were picked up, the PMOS said, as he had this morning, we were still at the stage of trying to discreetly talk to the Iranians, but leave them in no doubt that we expected the immediate release of our personnel. If that did not work then we may have to become more explicit. There are downsides to that as well as up sides and we have to take into account both sides of the equation.

Put to the PMOS that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have said that they do not know where the personnel are being held and that they are being denied consular access, the PMOS said that he did not wish to add a running commentary to proceedings at this stage but there may come a point where we have to become again much more explicit on those kinds of issues as well.

Asked if there were any deadlines for access to or return of personnel and if there was a deadline had the Iranians been informed, the PMOS said that the Iranians were fully aware of our view of the overall situation and our view of where we are, but again, at the moment it is best dealt with privately. There may come a point where that isn’t the case and he did not wish to get into playing the deadline game.

Asked if the situation was helped at all by the United States military exercise going on very nearby, the PMOS said the important thing to bear in mind about the US exercise was that it had been planned initially six months ago, it was a routine exercise and people should not put two and two together and make five. That would be irresponsible. The routine exercise is one matter; the position of our personnel is another matter.

Asked if the private, diplomatic talks were thought to be effective, the PMOS said that the important thing was to give the private approach a try first then see where we are. It is not an indefinite approach, it is an approach which can change but it is worth a try because if we can resolve this quietly then so much the better. At the same time we are fully aware of the possibility that we might not be able to sustain that position because our immediate priority is to get the immediate release of our personnel.

Asked what the other options were if diplomacy failed, the PMOS said that if he outlined those it would not be private diplomacy would it, so best to do it step by step.

Asked again about the coordinates being made public, the PMOS said that we were utterly confident that we were in Iraqi waters and not just marginally in Iraqi waters, but in Iraqi waters. It is a case of tactics if and when we have to prove that. Asked if by ‘utterly confident’ the PMOS meant that there was hard evidence of the location of the boat, the PMOS said that all he could usefully say was that he did not utter those words lightly.

Asked if there was a fixed point recognised by the UK where Iraqi waters ended and Iranian waters began as it appeared the Iranians did not and the last agreement was in 1975, the PMOS said this was not a case of marginally within Iraqi waters.

Asked if the seizure of the Iraqi personnel was filmed the allied forces, the PMOS said that he was not aware.

Asked how the Government could prove the location of the boat if there was not footage or coordinates, the PMOS said he could be catagoric as there was a boat, which was inspected. Asked if the boat was still bobbing around in the sea, the PMOS did not answer.

Asked if it was common practice to undertake inspections without air support, the PMOS said that it was a Ministry of Defence question.

2 Comments »

I can’t beleive iran has done this, I really feel for our troops. The country must do something to get them back and soon.
Comment by Sam Tilston — 28 Mar 2007 on 3:54 am | Link
I can’t beleive iran has done this, I really feel for our troops. The country must do something to get them back and soon.
Comment by Sam Tilston — 28 Mar 2007 on 3:55 am | Link

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» Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Iran

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