The UN Security Council on Thursday was divided over a British call for the immediate release of 15 British sailors held by Iran, with Russia raising objections, diplomats said.
A Western diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity said a British draft statement being debated in closed-door consultations was softened to merely note the Council's "concern" about the seizure of the 15 Britons and call for "their immediate release." But several diplomats said Russia was pressing for a blander statement that would call for "humanitarian access" to the detainees that negotiations were continuing on acceptable language.
The latest text would not mention the fact that the captured Britons and their two boats were, according to London, seized in Iraqi waters, the diplomats said.
The original British draft circulated Wednesday would have the Security Council "deplore the continuing detention by the Government of Iran of 15 UK naval personnel" and back "calls for (their) immediate release".
It would note that "the UK personnel were operating in Iraqi waters as part of the multinational Force-Iraq under a mandate from the Security Council under resolution 1723 (2006) and at the request of the government of Iraq.
Earlier Britain's UN envoy Emyr Jones Parry told reporters that Global Positioning System (GPS) co-ordinates of two British boats were changed by Iran to make it appear they were in Iranian waters.
"It was only when we point out that the detention (of the 15 British sailors and marines) was inappropriate and in our view unlawful that the co-ordinates were then changed by the Iranian government to be co-ordinates within Iranian waters," British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said.
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