Opinion | Editorials
Give diplomacy a chance
It has been 10 days since the capture by Iran of 15 British sailors. And it seems there is no end in sight.
- Gulf News
- Published: 00:00 April 3, 2007
It has been 10 days since the capture by Iran of 15 British sailors. And it seems there is no end in sight. In fact, the crisis threatens to escalate the already tense regional situation. Any wrong move on the part of any side, including the United States, might well lead to conflict.
Hot heads, especially in the US administration, need to cool off. London and Tehran began direct talks on the issue on Sunday. All parties concerned must give the talks a chance. The row can be solved by diplomacy, in a similar way to the previous crisis in 2004, when Iran seized a number of British sailors but were released, through negotiations, few days later.
Tehran's argument - that the sailors were illegally in Iranian territorial waters - and London's counter-argument - that Global Positioning Satellite data proved that they were 1.7km inside Iraqi waters - can be resolved through diplomacy. Therefore, the sabre rattling by the Bush administration will not solve the issue but only lead to an unnecessary escalation of the crisis.
US warplanes have already violated Iranian airspace, according to an officer of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Retaliation by Iran could prove fatal to this region, which tries hard to heal the wounds of recent conflicts, particularly the bloody one still raging in neighbouring Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iran should stop parading the sailors on TV. The UK Foreign Office is right in its objection to showing the sailors on Iranian TV. Tehran must also stop talking about prosecuting the sailors. They are merely soldiers acting upon the orders of their government. The British media can also help. It can stop demonising the Iranians and provoking the hawks we know have significant power within the Iranian regime.
People in this region hope diplomacy and reason will prevail. They also hope the ordeal of the sailors and their families will end immediately.
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