Downing Street Says

Asked if the incident involving the British yachtsman was discussed at Cabinet, the PMS said that it had been discussed. The Foreign Secretary confirmed that this incident had happened and reported that it appeared that the five crew had strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters. The PMS added that we were doing all we could to secure their release.

We were expecting an announcement from the Foreign Ministry at some point today; our ambassador was engaged and we were hoping to engage consular officials as well. Clearly they were being treated well and as the Foreign Secretary had said, we hoped this was resolved soon.

Asked if the Prime Minister had got involved in this, the PMS said that the Prime Minister was being kept informed of developments, but the Foreign Secretary was leading on the issues as was appropriate. Asked if there was any sense of timing in terms of the statement from the Foreign Ministry, the PMS said reports had suggested that it would be in Tehran later on today.

Put that the PMS had mentioned that they were being treated well and had there been independent confirmation of that, the PMS replied that he was repeating what had been said by the Foreign Office. The PMS said that the Foreign Secretary would not have made the remark if he was not confident that that was the case.

Put that the Iranian authorities had said that the yachtsman would face serious measures if they were found to have been doing anything wrong, the PMS replied that he had not seen the language being referred to. The PMS added that the most important thing was to continue to find ways of resolving the situation as swiftly as possible. We would remain in close touch with the Iranian authorities and our priority was to see the yachtsman released as soon as possible.

Put that there was no condemnation for what the Iranian authorities had said, the PMS said that he thought everyone would share the view that the Government did all it could to ensure these yachtsman were released and the language being used by the Foreign Office and the Government as a whole underlined that point.

Asked when the Government first learned of this, the PMS said that the Foreign Office were informed of the incident on the 25th November. Asked if there was any reason for the delay, the PMS said not that he was aware of.

Put that the Bahraini government had offered their help with finding a solution, the PMS said that he was not aware of that. We were engaged at the appropriate levels and wished to continue those channels.

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» Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Iran

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