Britain Says No Punishment for Boat Crew

In this picture issued by Britain's Ministry of Defence, Royal Marine Captain Chris Air, left, leads 15 British service personnel release by Iran, across the tarmac at London's Heathrow Airport, Thursday April 5, 2007, from the British Airways aircraft which flew them from Tehran. The 15 British sailors and marines returned home after 13 days in captivity. Man in military uniform seen second from left, was part of the party who meet the 15 service personnel on their arrival. (AP Photo/Angie Pearce) (Angie Pearce - AP)

"Those were transparently cooked-up confessions. It would be wrong to criticize those people, and besides they were not betraying anything to put anyone at risk," he said.

The British personnel were in two inflatable boats when captured March 23 while patrolling for smugglers near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway long a disputed dividing line between Iraq and Iran. They had just inspected an Indian cargo ship, one of 66 boardings they had performed since beginning their mission in March, British officials said.

Iran said the crew entered Iranian waters. Britain insisted they were in Iraqi waters working under a U.N. mandate. A similar incident took place in 2004 when Iran seized a British crew for three days.

The Defense Ministry said its investigation would study the crew's mission, location and tactics.

After the freed naval team returned home Thursday, Britain's Sky News raised questions about its activities. It said an officer in the captured crew, Royal Marine Capt. Chris Air, had said in an interview three weeks ago that the team was gathering intelligence on Iran during its patrols.

The Defense Ministry denied the boat patrol was an intelligence mission, saying the team just spoke to ship captains in the Persian Gulf and Shatt Al-Arab to determine who is using shipping routes.

Richard Dalton, former British ambassador to Iran, said the incident would force the Royal Navy to re-examine the way it conducts operations in the Persian Gulf.

He said it was crucial to work out with Iran ways to avoid similar incidents. "But more important than that is the need for additional force protection for exposed naval units," he said.

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Associated Press writers Raphael Satter in London and Lily Hindy in New York contributed to this report.