Iran suggested a group of 15 British military personnel may be put on trial for violating its waters as British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned Tehran the fate of the sailors and marines seized off the Iraqi coast was a "fundamental" issue for his government.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett spoke by telephone on Sunday with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and reiterated her country's stance that the British personnel were operating in Iraqi waters as they searched for smugglers at sea.
At a European summit in Berlin on Sunday, Blair said Iran's claim that the sailors had crossed into Iranian territorial waters "is simply not true."
"I want to get [the situation] resolved in as easy and diplomatic a way as possible," Blair said, but added he hoped the Iranians "understood how fundamental an issue this is for the British government."
Meanwhile Mottaki said his government was considering charges against the British sailors and marines.
"The Iranian authorities intercepted these sailors and marines in Iranian waters and detained them in Iranian waters. This has happened in the past, as well," Mottaki said.
"The charge against them is illegal entrance into Iranian waters," Mottaki said.
Mottaki declined to provide the exact coordinates of where the Britons were seized, saying this "very detailed information has been submitted to the representatives of the United Kingdom."
A spokesman for Britain's defense ministry said they were not releasing the coordinates.
Britain and the US have said the sailors and marines had just completed a search of a civilian vessel in the Iraqi part of the Shatt al-Arab waterway when they were intercepted by the Iranian navy.
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