TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran and Britain signaled possible movementtoward ending the standoff over 15 detained British sailors Monday.
Iran promised to stop airing video confessions and Britain saidit's willing to discuss ways to avoid boundary confusion in thePersian Gulf.
The quieter tone from both capitals raised hopes the 11-daystandoff might be solved soon. But optimistic signs emerged before,only to be followed by a hardening of positions and tough rhetoric.
Iran's chief international negotiator, Ali Larijani, said hiscountry wanted to resolve the crisis through diplomacy and addedthat he saw no need to put the crew on trial. He had suggested lastweek the captives might be tried for allegedly intruding intoIranian waters.
Iran's priority "is to solve the problem through properdiplomatic channels," Larijani said. "We are not interested inletting this issue get further complicated."
And he called for all involved to stop using "the language offorce."
'POSITIVE CHANGES'
The British government responded to Larijani by saying that bothit and Iran had a "shared desire to make early progress" inresolving the dispute.
"There remain some differences between us, but we can confirm weshare his preference for early bilateral discussions to find adiplomatic solution to this problem," a Foreign Office spokeswomansaid.
The Iranian capital, Tehran, was quiet Monday -- a day afterhundreds of students hurled firecrackers and rocks at the BritishEmbassy, chanting "death to Britain" and calling for the expulsionof the country's ambassador because of the standoff.
Earlier Monday, an Iranian state-run television station said all15 of the detained Royal Navy personnel had confessed to illegallyentering Iranian waters before they were captured.
However, Iranian state-run radio said the confessions would notbe broadcast because of what it called "positive changes" in thenegotiating stance of Britain, whose leaders have been angered bythe airing of videos of the captives.
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