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Video grab shows Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking to Britons who had been detained in Iran at a ceremony to mark their release, April 4, 2007. The 15 British naval personnel will leave the country from Tehran airport on Thursday, an official Iranian source said. [Reuters]

The British crew was seized March 23 as it searched for smugglers. Iran broadcast footage of Turney and some other crew members "confessing" they had entered Iranian waters. An infuriated Britain froze most bilateral contacts, prompting Tehran to roll back on a pledge to free Turney.

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Wednesday's announcement led some analysts to conclude that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, decided the crisis had gone on long enough at a time when Tehran faces mounting pressure over its nuclear program. A day after the British were seized, the U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.

During Ahmadinejad's news conference, the hardline president said Britain had sent a letter to the Iranian Foreign Ministry pledging that entering Iranian waters "will not happen again." Tehran had demanded an apology for the alleged entry into its waters.

Britain's Foreign Office would not give details about the letter but said its position was clear that the detained crew had been in Iraqi waters.

Regardless of the territorial issue, the standoff showed that Tehran has ways to push back after the U.S. and Britain beefed up their military presence in the Persian Gulf this year.

The U.S. has accused Iran of sending weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq. That led to speculation that the Iranians seized the Britons in retaliation for the detention of five Iranians by U.S. forces in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil in January. Iran denied any connection.

Shortly before the announcement, Iranian state media reported that an Iranian envoy would be allowed to meet the five Iranians. A U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad said American authorities were considering the request, although an international Red Cross team, including one Iranian, had visited the prisoners.

Another Iranian diplomat, separately seized two months ago by uniformed gunmen in Iraq, was released and returned Tuesday to Tehran. Iran accused the Americans of abducting him, a charge the U.S. denied.

Before announcing the Britons would be freed, Ahmadinejad told reporters that Iran will never accept trespassing in its territory.

"On behalf of the great Iranian people," he said, "I want to thank the Iranian coast guard who courageously defended and captured those who violated their territorial waters."

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