Iraq calls on Iran to free British sailors

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's foreign minister urged    Iran to free 15 detained British sailors and marines in a telephone call with his Iranian counterpart on Sunday evening, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Iran says the military personnel entered Iranian waters illegally, while Britain says they were conducting a routine search of shipping in Iraqi waters in the Shatt al-Arab waterway that forms the southern border between Iran and    Iraq.

The ministry said Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told his counterpart that \"according to the information available to the Iraqi authorities those soldiers were detained inside Iraqi waters.\"

\"They were working with the multi-national forces with the approval of the Iraqi government and according to    U.N. Security Council resolutions,\" it said.

\"The minister called for the release of the detainees and to deal with this case in a wise way,\" the ministry said.

Britain said two boatloads of Royal Navy sailors and marines had been searching a merchant vessel on a U.N.-approved mission in Iraqi waters on Friday when Iranian gunboats encircled and captured them.

The incident has sparked a diplomatic row between Britain and Iran. London has demanded their immediate release, while Tehran said on Sunday it was considering charging the Britons with illegally entering its waters.

It has also raised tensions that are already high with the West over Tehran's nuclear program. The U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on Iran on Saturday.

London and Washington have also accused Tehran of fomenting sectarian violence in Iraq by supplying Shi'ite militias with sophisticated bombs, training, and money.