Monday, April 02, 2007

Iran to stop putting British sailors on TV - for now


Iran has stopped putting the captured British hostages on Iranian state TV because of Britain's `changed stance' . Videos of the captured British sailors and marines had been airing on state TV around the clock.

The television station, which aired new footage of the 15 captured military personnel said all 15 had confessed to entering Iranian waters.

"It seems that Britain has shifted a little bit from its stance in the last one or two days over the undeniable facts and from some of its clamor," said the announcer, according to a Reuters translation. "If this path continues, one can hope that the issue would be resolved in a bilateral process and faraway from fuss and clamor and with achieving Iran's logical demands."

In other words, it's now simply a hostage negotiation - the British government has to meet Iran's `logical demands' if it wants its hostages back in one piece.

The latest images showed other members of the group talking to camera but their voices could not be heard....a very similar situation to the Jill Carroll hostage tapes.

I would guess that the British government has already signified, in some degree, its willingness to roll over, since this concession was made by Iran.

"The Iranians know our position. They know stage-managed TV appearances are not going to affect that position," the spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said, adding that London was awaiting Tehran's response after an exchange of diplomatic notes.

"There's a lot going on behind the scenes," he said without further explanation.

I'll just bet that there is.

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