New Delhi: Iran's ambassador to Moscow on Saturday denied suggesting that the British sailors and marines detained by Iran may face trial there.
The ambassador, Gholamreza Ansari, had reportedly earlier told a Russian TV channel that the sailors could face trial in Iran. But Ansari on Saturday said he had meant that the case had entered a "legal phase" and that the Russian channel had mistranslated his words.
A group of sailors of the British Royal Navy were detained last week by Iran on charges of “illegally entering waters.” The sailors were conducting a routine inspection of a merchant vessel at the northern end of the Persian Gulf.
Britain maintains the sailors were seized in Iraqi waters and has demanded their "immediate release". UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon also made a plea for the release of the British sailors.
The Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Thursday that Britain must first admit that its sailors did indeed enter Iranian waters — not Iraqi ones. That is a precondition for the release of its personnel, he said.
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