The British hostages held captive in Iran for a fortnight on Friday told of the moments they thought they were about to be executed by their captors as the first full account of their ordeal was made public.
The most frightening time was when the 14 men and one woman, Faye Turney, were lined up against a wall, handcuffed and blindfolded. They heard weapons being cocked and some of them thought they were about to be shot.
Royal Marine Joe Tindall said: "They [the Iranians] changed from the military dress to all black, their faces covered. There were weapons cocking. Someone, I'm not sure who, someone said: `Lads, lads, I think we're going to get executed.' After that comment someone was sick and as far as I was concerned he had just had his throat cut."
PHOTO: AP
Lieutenant Felix Carman added: "Some of us feared the worst."
As the sailors and marines told their stories, it was learned that the US had offered to buzz Iran with fighter jets during the impasse. Diplomatic sources said that at the height of the stand-off, Pentagon officials offered a series of military options, including for US combat aircraft to mount aggressive patrols over Iranian Revolutionary Guard bases. The British declined and told the Pentagon to calm the situation by staying out of it and tone down military exercises in the Gulf.
The scale of the international anxiety became clear as the group revealed how they were held in solitary confinement and subjected to psychological torment.
Speaking in detail for the first time, six of the 15 sailors and marines -- who returned to the UK on Thursday after being freed by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- defended themselves against accusations that they had been captured too easily. They were paraded on television apparently admitting they had trespassed into Iranian waters. It emerged that Acting Leading Seaman Turney, a mother from Plymouth, had been separated from the men soon after capture and was under the impression for days that they had been sent back and she was the only one remaining in Iran.
The crew insisted they had been in Iraqi waters when they were seized. They said they were surrounded by eight Iranian boats and, although they had made their weapons ready, they had no chance of overpowering the Iranians.
Captain Chris Air of the Royal Marines said: "The Iranians are not our enemies. We are not at war with them. By the time the true intent of the Iranians had become apparent and we could legitimately have fought back it was too late for action. We were completely surrounded and, in addition to any loss of life, any attempted fightback would have caused a major international incident and an escalation of tension within the region. Our team had seconds to make a decision and we believe we made the right decision."
In captivity, they were kept in isolation and deprived of sleep. They were told they had been abandoned by their government and could admit they had trespassed and go home, or stay in prison for seven years. At least one of the servicemen was hit.
They denied cooperating with the Iranians, but said they had agreed to "make a controlled release of non-operational information." They have been given two weeks' compassionate leave.
Downing Street and the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) chose not to comment after the press conference.
Nick Harvey, the Liberal Democrats' defense spokesman, said: "The MoD must now take a cold hard look at how this patrol work is organized."
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