British sailors nearly free?

Some welcome news Monday in the 11-day-old Iranian-British standoff: a senior Iranian official is saying that he believes the case of the 15 British servicemen is "quite resolvable" and that there is no reason to put them on trial.

The statement appears to be something of a breakthrough, considering the official in question and the means with which he chose to communicate his message. The official is Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. In that position, to which he is appointed by Iran's Supreme Leader, Larijani heads the country's top body for formulating foreign policy. Considered a conservative pragmatist, he reports to the Supreme Leader rather than to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hard-liner who is an influential member of the council that Larijani heads.

Larijani made his comments on the main 7 p.m. news program of Britain's Channel 4 in a live interview with one of Britain's most distinguished broadcasters and Channel 4's star presenter, Jon Snow. As a former head of Iran's state television network, Larijani would have been well aware of the significant platform being provided for his statements. Earlier in the day, Iran's state television said that it would suspend broadcasting the "confessions" of the captive servicemen because Britain had become more conciliatory.

The crisis is not over. Larijani sounds muddled when Snow asks him why the captives are not being freed if there isn't going to be a trial. But the gestures out of Tehran suggest that Iran feels that it has made its point; beyond the issue of whether the British trespassed in Iranian territorial waters, Iran seemed keen to warn Britain as well as the U.S. that it will not tolerate coalition forces in Iraq interfering with Iranian interests. Iran has been particulary upset by the U.S.'s continuing detention of five Iranians at the Iranian consulate in Erbil in January. At the outset of the detention of the British servicemen, Iran made it clear that it was not bargaining for the Iranians held by the U.S.

Another important sign of how things will develop is likely to come Tuesday when Ahmadinejad gives a regular news conference, which officials have already said would discuss the British naval incident. Ahmadinejad has crossed swords before with Larijani on issues from threatening Israel to floating concessions in Iran's nuclear standoff with the West. It will be interesting to see if he echoes Larijani's conciliatory tone.

Here's what Larijani, considered one of the cooler heads in the Iranian regime, told Channel Four's Snow, according to Channel Four's transcript of the interview:

Snow: These 15 captives have been detained now for 11 days - will they be freed or will they be tried?

Larijani: I have talked about this issue earlier. Indeed we are not pleased to have some British citizens to be in our country as captives. Maybe if the UK government would have acted otherwise we would have not had the case dragged so long and settled so far.

But you are aware of the fact that as soon as this incident happened, a harsh diplomatic atmosphere was created and indeed the political tools came into being and being used.

The meaning was our sovereignty was violated, our territorial water was violated and we turned to being indebted now to these violations as well and that was not an appropriate move or attitude and unfortunately some EU members also started taking positions and it was interesting for me that prior to knowing that they were in our territorial water or not apparently they were among the people who could see the unseen and they started to condemn Iran without knowing the facts.

In other words it means if a member would make a mistake then the EU should support it and that is the language of force. Therefore, the EU would have no different position or attitude as compared to the United States.

Snow: Now that it's got to that pitch, now that it has got into this bad way diplomatically as you describe it. What can be done now to diffuse this, to bring it back to something which will deliver their freedom?

Larijani: The wrong attitude should be corrected, coming back to the right path. Earlier I had said that we wanted to release the lady who is among these sailors.

But once we faced an irrational move and attitude we stopped that move. We would be interested in solving the problem and the solution is quite clear. First of all, we have to put aside the irrational moves and resorting to language of force.

Second point, there is a difference of view between the UK government and the Iranian government and this issue should be resolved bilaterally.

The first point is that they should clarify, identify the fact of whether they have been in our territorial water or not. In our view they have been in our territorial water 100%.

The Geneva Convention, according to this convention, this has been a violation committed by the UK forces. The second point, a guarantee must be given that such violation would not be repeated. I would ask you this question - if a military force would violate your border, your territorial water, would you give them chocolate in return or you would arrest them? That is exactly what we are asking.

Snow: The problem now is are they going to be tried for this violation or is it possible for Britain to apologise and discuss with you a promise not to do this again. What are you offering tonight? They are saying there has been an improvement in Britain's stance. What is that improvement and what are you offering?

Larijani: Our priority is to solve this through proper diplomatic channels. We are not interested in having this issue get further complicated. There are two ways - one was through diplomatic negotiations between Iran and UK or the opposite side wanted to use the language of force meaning they are not willing to solve the issue through diplomatic negotiations. In my view it is quite resolvable.

Snow: The problem this end, is you said what would you feel like if Iranian forces came into British territorial waters, but I ask you is how you would feel if the families of Iranian soldiers saw their loved ones on the television making confessions which Mr. Blair has said fool no one. This is causing distress but it's also not solving the problem.

Larijani: I think the judgement is being made with the wrong mentality. If you are asking how the issue could be resolved then you have to look into rational ways. There is a clear violation of our territorial waters by these people. A group of politicians outside this region have had some assertion without having proper knowledge of the issue. And the people who have been involved in this matter, the officers and the other personnel, amongst these sailors, when they saw the maps they said they were in Iran's territorial waters. We are not living in the stone ages. They have electronic systems and the GPS has clearly pinpointed their presence. Why are we complicating further the issue?

Snow: But the problem is these confessions every night are not moving anything. People know that the words in some ways are being put into their mouths. What people want to know is can this be resolved in 24 hours or are you going to keep them for another 11 days or will you put them on trial. What is happening? What can be done to stop this immediately?

Larijani: We were not willing to solve any problems by having these confessions broadcast. We just wanted to show a reaction to the assertion by the opposite side. If they had not behaved irrationally we would not be showing them on TV. Of course we have not broadcast whatever we have from them. Just to clarify the case for the other side we have shown some pieces. We definitely believe this issue can be resolved and there is no need for any trial. Except that the UK government would be interested in settling the case in the trial of trying these sailors. We would be interested in diplomatic channels to solve the problem.

Snow: What diplomatic channels? Surely they exist now. Do you want somebody to fly to Tehran from London, Mr. Blair, Mrs Beckett or are you happy to deal with the diplomatic ambassador?

Larijani: I see no problem in having negotiations either with the United Kingdom's authorities or through the ambassadors and the embassies. But rest assured that our sheer interest is to solve the problem as soon as possible because there is no interest or benefit in this issue to keep some British soldiers in Iran, to keep them away from their families, from the humanitarian point of view.

Snow: If there is to be no trial why not release them and then keep negotiating with the British about the problem? They can then give you some pledge about not going into your waters again. But why not release the men and then continue the negotiations if there is to be no trial? They have had no consular access - will you give them that?

Larijani: I don't find it a precise proposition or suggestion. Some people have trespassed in Iranian territorial waters. First of all we have to clarify the case whether it has happened or not. The UK government from the beginning has completely denied this violation and some other countries such as U.S. and Mr. Bush are saying this is hostage taking. What reason does exist to take hostage for us?

We can clearly understand the sensationalism and we can understand that once the language of force and taking position of power imposing upon the others.

What we said there are two independent countries, a number of the soldiers have made the mistake, have violated the other's territorial waters. They should be brave enough to admit their mistake, confess to it and leave.

I believe there should be a delegation to review the case to clarify the case first of all, to clarify whether they have been in our territorial waters or not. Through sensationalism you cannot solve the problem and after that there is a diplomatic channel and method that could help solve the problem

Snow: Let's just agree then, you've said no trial, what you want is a delegation that will agree to look at whether there was a violation and if there was for Britain to apologise and then these men will be freed?

Larijani: Definitely our priority would not be a trial except that the UK government would be insistent of not solving the problem through diplomatic channels. I have already answered your question. Our priority is to solve the problem through diplomatic channels.

Jon Snow: Dr Larijani, thank you very much for talking to us from Iran.

--By Scott MacLeod/Cairo