Stand-Off Between Britain and Iran Sparks Protests in Tehran, London

LONDON, April 1--The stand-off between Britain and Iran over 15 detained British sailors and marines sparked protests in Tehran and London Sunday, as a poll in a British newspaper found that seven percent of Britons believe their country should be readying for military action against Iran.

About 200 students throwing rocks and shouting "Death to Britain" and "Death to America" demonstrated outside the British embassy in Tehran Sunday, but caused no damage or injuries. In London, about a dozen British protestors demonstrated outside the Iranian embassy,demanding that the captives, taken March 23, be freed.

A poll published in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper found that only 7 percent of Britons surveyed believed London should be preparing to use military force against Iran. Asked whether military force should be used even as a "last resort," 48 percent said no and 44 percent said yes.

The British government also responded over the weekend to a letter from Iran over a March 29th incident in the Iraqi city of Basra. The Iranian Foreign Ministry sent a letter Friday to the British embassy in Tehran claiming that British troops shot at the Iranian consulate building in Basra, according to the Fars Iranian news agency. The British Foreign Office responded with a letter Saturday saying the allegation was baseless, a Foreign Office spokesman said.

In explaining the incident, a Defense Ministry spokesman said British forces were on "routine patrol" in Basra on March 29 when they came under fire and shot back. "It just so happened, purely by coincidence, that they were near the Iranian consulate; There were no reports of any casualties," the spokesman said.

Defense Minister Des Browne, on a visit to Afghanistan, said Britain and Iran were engaged in direct bilateral contact with Iran to get the 15 Navy personnel back. He said there had been no change in the British position, backed up by the United Nations, the European Union and the United States, that Iran must immediately release the captives. Iran claims the Britons illegally entered Iranian waters, while Britain maintains that they were seized in Iraqi waters, where they were patrolling legally with U.N. authorization.

"There is no reason to continue to keep them there. We are anxious that this matter be resolved as quickly as possible and that it be resolved by diplomatic means and we are bending every single effort to that," Browne said, according to the BBC.

Browne said the international support for Britain, which argues that their sailors did not stray into Iranian territory, should make it clear to Iran "that their responsibility is to release our detained personnel."

Some critics in Britain have questioned why the 15 sailors and marines on two small rigid inflatable boats surrendered without a fight and why the HMS Cornwall, the heavily armed frigate from which the two small boats were launched, was not closer and in a better position to protect the lightly armed sailors and marines. The Defense Ministry spokesman said Sunday that the Cornwall was "four to eight miles away, and could not come any closer because of shallow waters in that part of the Persian Gulf.