Blair: “No Ill Will” for Iranian Hostage Incident
Charles Johnson
Wed Apr 4, 2007 at 11:25 pm PDT • Views: 558
The mullahs dressed their British hostages up in horrible polyester suits and staged a last series of propaganda photos, and now they’re on the way back to Britain: British navy crew leaves Iran for London.
Tony Blair says, “No hard feelings.”
TEHRAN, Iran - Fifteen British sailors and marines held captive for nearly two weeks left Iran early Thursday aboard a commercial flight bound for London, ending a standoff a day after Iran’s president announced their surprise release.
The British crew sat in business class on the British Airways flight that departed Mehrabad International Airport around 8:30 a.m. local time (1 a.m. EDT), an Associated Press reporter at the scene reported.
They arrived at the airport in a convoy of black sedans about an hour earlier escorted by the elite Revolutionary Guards. British ambassador to Iran, Geoffrey Adams, who was at the airport, declined to comment. Before boarding, the sailors received gifts given to them on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s behalf, Iran’s state-run news agency, IRNA, reported.
The hardline president’s announcement of their release Wednesday defused a growing confrontation between the two countries. In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed “profound relief” over the peaceful end to the 13-day crisis, telling the Iranian people that “we bear you no ill will.”
Frank says: