British parliament members have criticized the government's handling of a hostage crisis with Iran in March and its decision to allow the captives to sell their stories to the press, according to a Sky report on Sunday.
On March 23, 15 British sailors and marines were seized by Iranian forces when they were patrolling off the Iraqi borders. Iran insisted that the British boats had illegally entered its territorial waters.
The soldiers were released in early April after nearly two weeks of captivity.
A report by Britain's House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee said British negotiators seeking to end their captivity took a whole week to approach the Iranian who was "very much in charge" of the incident, the Sky reported.
The report said it was "odd" that Britain waited so long in asking to speak to Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, adding that an approach "could and should have been made much earlier."
They also criticized the government's decision to take the issue to the United Nations, saying this had the effect of blocking the potential early release of Faye Turney, the only woman among the captives.
However, the report was generally approving of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) diplomacy following the seizure of the troops, finding that "although there may have been some tactical mistakes, it is difficult to fault the FCO's overall approach."
Meanwhile, the committee also slammed the decision to allow the sailors and marines to sell their stories to the press after their release. It was "wholly unsatisfactory" that an earlier inquiry found no one to blame for taking the decision, it said.
The chairman of the committee, Mike Gapes, said the decision was one of the biggest errors of the episode.
Source: Xinhua
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