Pat Dollard | Young Americans

According to an Iranian military source, a battle has broken out between two of the nations’ top Generals. Tomorrow, Sunday April 1, The Times of London will report the following:

THE fate of the 15 British marines and sailors held in Tehran may
depend on the outcome of a power struggle between two of Iran’s top
generals, write Uzi Mahnaimi and Marie Colvin.

According to an Iranian military source, the commander of the
Revolutionary Guards has called for them to be freed.

Major-General Yahya Rahim Safavi is said to have told the country’s
Supreme National Security Council on Friday that the situation was
“getting out of control” and urged its members to consider the
immediate release of the prisoners to defuse tension in the Gulf.

However, Safavi’s intervention was reportedly denounced by another
senior general at a meeting of high-ranking commanders yesterday.

Yadollah Javani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ political
bureau, was said to have accused him of weakness and “liberal
tendencies”. Javani is said to have demanded that the prisoners be put
on trial.

Reports of the clash emerged as Terry Waite, who was kidnapped in
Beirut while trying to negotiate a hostage release in 1987, offered to
travel to Tehran to try to secure the release of the 14 servicemen and
one woman.

“I don’t think one needs to be afraid of these people, but one does
need to have respect for their point of view, whether you agree with
it or not,” said Waite, who spent almost five years as the hostage of
an Iranian-backed fundamentalist group in Beirut.

“I would rather like it if they would prove their humanity by giving
me access to the country and the people being detained.”

In Tehran, tension was expected to increase further today with a huge
demonstration by students outside the British embassy. The protest was
being organised by the Basij, a paramilitary force of about 10m people
paid by the regime.

At similar protests in the past, they have shouted, “Death to Britain”
and thrown stones. An Iranian official said security was being
increased in case the embassy was besieged.

The developments followed a warning by Safavi, the Revolutionary
Guards commander, that Iran should prepare for a possible invasion,
which he believes could come as early as next month.

US military exercises in the Persian Gulf involving two aircraft
carriers, 100 aircraft and 10,000 personnel have fuelled fears in
Tehran that America may be on the verge of launching airstrikes
against Iran’s nuclear programme.

Many military officers believe the British naval party intercepted on
March 23 was part of a ploy to test Iran’s readiness for an invasion.
Tens of thousands of Basij, the force that provided the shock troops
for the Iran-Iraq war, have been sent to the Iraqi border.

Iranian military sources said the Supreme National Security Council
had concluded on Friday evening that Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme
leader, should order the release of the British naval personnel on
Safavi’s advice.

However, according to one account, which could not be confirmed,
Javani described Safavi’s recommendation as tantamount to treason.

The demand for a trial was backed by advisers to Khamenei. “The
British aggressors must be tried and dealt with according to Iranian
laws,” said Ayatollah Mojtahed Shabestari, an influential cleric.

Iran’s ambassador to Moscow, Gholamreza Ansari, said a legal process
was already underway. “If there is no guilt, they will be freed,” he
added. But he denied that he had said they could face trial. Other
officials called on Britain to send a delegation to Tehran to resolve
the crisis.

Margaret Beckett, the foreign secretary, urged Iran to resolve the
crisis peacefully and said London was open to talks.

A reply was sent to an Iranian embassy letter asking London to
acknowledge that its sailors had trespassed in Iranian waters and to
confirm that it would not happen again. The Foreign Office refused to
reveal its response.

Javier Solana, the EU policy chief, said he hoped to talk directly to
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.