Hopes of prisoner swap as Iranian is freed - But there was no deal so quit saying that

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article2419981.ece

The stand-off over the 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran looks to be moving towards a de facto prisoner exchange, despite denials by Britain and Iran that a swap was intended.

The first sign of a breakthrough yesterday was the release of Jalal Sharafi, an Iranian diplomat abducted from the streets of Baghdad two months ago, whom Iran claimed had been seized by Iraqi commandos controlled by the US. At the same time, an Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said the Iraqi government was "intensively" seeking the release of five Iranian officials captured in a US helicopter raid on a long-established Iranian liaison office in the Kurdish capital of Arbil in January.

The rhetoric in Tehran and London became more diplomatic as Tony Blair said the next two days would be "fairly critical" in resolving the crisis, though the Prime Minister gave no details. Iran continues to deny it seized the British naval detachment in the northern Persian Gulf on 23 March to force an exchange of hostages, while Britain said it would not bargain for their release.

The seizure of the sailors and marines was the latest episode in a series of tit-for-tat confrontations between the US and Iran which began, as The Independent revealed yesterday, when the US tried to seize senior Iranian intelligence officials on an official visit to Arbil on 11 January. The raid failed and only succeeded in detaining five Iranian officials at the liaison office, which has now been officially recognised as a consular office.