British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned on Tuesday that the incident over 15 British navy personnel detained by Iran would move into a "different phase" if diplomatic efforts failed.

"I hope we manage to get them to realize they have to release them. If not, then this will move into a diffident phase." Blair told British GMTV television.

Blair stressed that these people had to be released, saying, "What we are trying to do at the moment is to pursue this through the diplomatic channels and make the Iranian government understand these people have to be released and that there is absolutely no justification whatever for holding them."

On Friday, the Iranian navy detained 15 British navy personnel, allegedly for their illegal entry into Iranian territorial waters in the Shatt al-Arab waterway. Britain insisted that they were in Iraqi waters when they were detained.

Blair told a news conference at the European Union summit in Berlin on Sunday that Iran's arrest of British naval personnel in Iraqi waters was "unjustified and wrong."

"This is a very serious situation and there is no doubt at all that these people were taken from a boat in Iraqi waters," he said.

"I hope the Iranian government understands how fundamental an issue this is for us," he added.

Source: Xinhua