The sailors and Marines held in Iran have been so compliant and have already said so much that they have caused excruciating embarrassment to many people in this country.

Although for the best of reasons, the Ministry of Defence has now reignited the debate about what happened by giving them permission to sell their stories.

The MoD was caught on the horns of a dilemma: either see stories leaked by friends and family or exercise some control over what comes out and let the hostages make some money.

The problem is that the MoD is likely to be blamed for whatever is published without having any real control. The redtop newspapers are going to want their pound of flesh and the captives with the best stories, the ones who suffered the most, are going to get the best offers. What can Faye Turney say that is worth a six-figure sum?

There is an inducement to say that things were as bad as possible. But whatever they say will be placed under the most intense scrutiny as investigative reporters from other redtop newspapers are likely to be hot on the trail to put holes in their stories.

None of the captives appears to have been beaten up or seriously mishandled. When you compare that with people who were captured during previous conflicts and who were treated so horribly it is not easy to understand why they were so compliant.

They were PlastiCuffed, hooded and put in isolation but otherwise they were treated courteously. I am sure that given the reverse circumstances we are likely to have dealt with prisoners in the same way under Geneva Convention rules.

The Iranians will say that they were treated correctly, they were arrested in their waters without anyone being killed and then looked after as best they could. They introduced them to the President, who pardoned them, they gave them food, water, clean suits and doggy bags of presents.

The real danger is that the captives’ stories will not add up. Already their accounts at the press conference do not really tally. Some refer to being terrified as the guards cocked their rifles while others say that they were just playing with their weapons. When you get these contradictory stories, just imagine how this is going to seem abroad. It is hardly the Nelson touch. Already commentators in the United States are asking why these people were so quick to attack their own country. And, in the Middle East and Far East, it is the Iranian account that people will probably believe.

What is so invidious is that they are profiting as heroes when real heroes over the past week are coming back in boxes or are still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. While all this has been happening the Royal Marines in Helmand province in Afghanistan have been involved in a real battle.

I wish the sailor and Marine hostages nothing but the best and hope that they get as much money as possible. But the reputation of the Royal Navy and the British Armed Forces is going to suffer in the United States and around the world. In the international PR battle it is Iran nine out of ten and Britain two. That is the real cost of selling these stories.

Colonel Bob Stewart is the former British UN Commander in Bosnia

Times Recommends

• UN may halt 400-year-old 'freedom of the seas'
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone
• Gas deal on hold, but Ukraine may pay in the end