Ahmadinejad parades his prize.
Kidnapped British servicewoman Faye Turney was forced to cover her head with an Islamic hijab in the first video released by Iran since she and 14 comrades were seized last week.
(...) Pictures showing some of the 15 sailors and Marines - apparently well and eating a meal - provided brief reassurance for their worried families.
But the video footage on state TV of Tehran parading its captives inflamed the worsening crisis - and led to demands for decisive action from the Foreign Office.
Despite world-wide pressure to act, however, Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett went no further than to say she was 'very concerned' about any indication that the captives had suffered pressure or coercion.
Mrs Turney, 25-year-old mother of a girl aged three, was singled out by the cameras in the first glimpse of the hostages since they were seized by Iran's Revolutionary Guards six days ago. Tehran had earlier claimed it was ready to release the sea survival expert 'very soon', but she showed clear signs of strain.
Words she was forced to write and speak for Tehran TV, apparently confessing that the Britons had 'trespassed' into Iranian waters, spoke of being well treated by her 'compassionate' captors.
But the harrowing footage of Mrs Turney, whose husband Adam
and daughter Molly wait anxiously at their family home in Plymouth,
told a different story.
Gone was the fresh-faced, enthusiastic young sailor filmed by the BBC on HMS Cornwall only hours before the British forces were captured at the mouth of the Shatt-al-Arab waterway.
She was evidently traumatised - at one point seen nervously sucking on a cigarette - in footage which the Foreign Office described as 'completely unacceptable' and British diplomats said was a clear breach of the Geneva Convention.
In the broadcast Mrs Turney, filmed in front of brightly-coloured curtains, is heard saying: 'My name is Leading Seaman Faye Turney. I come from England. I serve on Foxtrot Nine Nine. I have been in the Navy nine years. I live in England.
'I was arrested on Friday March 23. Obviously we trespassed into their waters.
'They were very friendly and very hospitable, very thoughtful, good people.
'They explained to us why we had been arrested. There was no aggression, no hurt, no harm. They were very, very compassionate.' Obviously scripted.
Iran is now insisting that the UK admit fault over the incident in order for the hostages to be released.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki's announcement came on a day of escalating tensions,
highlighted by an Iranian video of the detained Britons that showed the
only woman captive saying her group had "trespassed" in Iranian waters.
Britain angrily denounced the video as unacceptable and froze most
dealings with the mideast nation. "First they have to admit
that they have made a mistake. Admitting the mistake will facilitate a
solution to the problem," Mottaki told The Associated Press in an
interview in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia "But unfortunately the British have not admitted their mistake." Mottaki also backed off a prediction that the female sailor, Faye Turney, could be freed Wednesday or Thursday, but said Tehran agreed to allow British officials to meet with service personnel. One can only hope that Iran's latest publicity stunt will backfire against them here in the West, but in Iran, it's a clear psyops victory for Ahmadinejad. Previous posts; Blair Warns Iran, Iran Captures Brit Sailors.
