HOWZAT

"On the basis of our good neighbourly relations, we regard it as a pure accident and we urge the Iranians to release them. He promised me that they had been investigating the case and promised me that the lady will be released today or tomorrow.

"I felt a real sense that they want to resolve this issue. We told them any escalation in the current circumstances will not be useful... He got the message very clearly."

As the diplomatic standoff intensified, Tony Blair condemned as a "disgrace" images released yesterday showing what appeared to be a choreographed statement made by 26-year-old Leading Seaman Faye Turney, the only female detainee, while in Iranian captivity. Smoking heavily, Ms Turney said she had "obviously" strayed into Iranian waters.

"I just think it’s completely wrong, a disgrace actually, when people are used in that way," the Prime Minister said, speaking on ITV.

"That’s contrary to all international laws and conventions, and is not going to make any difference to us.

"We need all 15 released because they were doing their job under a United Nations mandate. There is no justification whatsoever for taking them in that way."

The footage of Leading Seaman Turney, her blonde hair covered in a black headscarf, had showed her saying that she and her colleagues were being treated well by their "friendly, hospitable, thoughtful and nice" captors.

The crisis comes against the background of a wider diplomatic battle between Iran and the West over its nuclear programme and its resumption last year of uranium enrichment, which has prompted sanctions from the UN Security Council.

The Iranians have also been accused of fomenting insurgent activity in southern Iraq, where it is said to fund and organise Shia Muslim militias blamed for attacks on British forces.

After five days of discreet diplomacy failed to produce a breakthrough, the Ministry of Defence went public with its satellite evidence which showed that the two inflatable patrol boats in which the captured sailors had been operating were 1.7 nautical miles inside Iraqi waters when they were "ambushed" by Iranian warships.

Both Tony Blair and Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, joined in - Mr Blair describing the seizure as "illegal" and Mrs Beckett announcing a freeze in ties. The MoD also accused Iran of having changed its story after initially giving map coordinates that proved the seizure was in Iraqi waters.

Ramping up the tension, the Iranian consul in Basra charged that British soldiers had surrounded his office in the southern Iraqi city this morning and fired shorts into the air in a "provocative act" that "could worsen the situation of the British sailors".

"British forces should rely on wisdom and not react because of the British forces’ detention. This reflects negatively on bilateral relations," said Consul-General Mohammed Ridha Nasir Baghban.

Britain denied the allegation. The Ministry of Defence said that the was an exchange of gunfire after UK troops on a foot patrol near the consulate building were ambushed.

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