Britian and Iran and Scotalnd's Sunday Herald

I think the British sailors seized by Iran poses a hell of a problem for us that may not be getting enough attention here. The following are from yesterday's Sunday Herald:

Iran's captives: how can we free them?

What should have been a minor international incident has spiralled into a major controversy. Diplomatic Editor Trevor Royle examines the real reasons behind their capture

'Tehran has decided to exploit the historic mistrust of the old coloniser'

By Bob Tait in Tehran

WHATEVER THE priorities of Iran's Islamic authorities in the first days after the capture of British sailors in the Shatt al-Arab waterway, mobilising public opinion apparently did not figure high. In contrast to the feeding frenzy triggered in Britain by the sailors plight, in Iran the story fell into a media black hole.

The Britons had been captured three days into the Norouz (new year) holiday, with most Iranians and government officials on vacation. Stemming from Iran's ancient Persian civilisation and pre-dating Islam, it is the biggest festive event on the annual national calendar, a time of year when newspapers cease publication for more than a fortnight.

Against that backdrop, government spokesmen maintained a virtual silence on the issue. Coverage by state-controlled television was minimal.

advertisement

As a result, the biggest crisis to strike British-Iranian relations since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini passed a death sentence on the author Salman Rushdie in 1989 met with a mixture of apathy and ignorance on the streets of Tehran.