(5 Apr 2007) HEADLINE: Happy Homecoming for Captive Britons
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CAPTION: A British navy crew returned home from Iranian captivity on Thursday, a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced their surprise release and ended the two-week crisis. (April 5)
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[Notes:ANCHOR VOICE]
It was a hero's welcome for these 15 British sailors and marine s...who are *finally * back on home soil.
At this base in southwestern England, first things first: medical checks and a full debriefing of their 13 days in Iranian captivity.
Many are for hoping answers...particularly about those alleged confession videos that made their way around the world.
(UK Arrivals 4 -- SOT with Sir Jock Stirrup, Air Chief Marshall)
"You've only gotta look at what they were saying and the way they were saying it. It was quite apparent that it wasn't them speaking."
While British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he's glad the crew is back safe and unharmed ...he notes that it comes on the same day four British soldiers were killed in an Iraqi ambush.
(UK Blair -- SOT with Tony Blair, British Prime Minister)
"Just as we rejoice at the return of our fifteen service personnel, so today we are also grieving and mourning for the loss of our soldiers in Basra, who were killed as a result of a terrorist act."
He makes no link between the latest attack and the Iranian government, but says elements of the regime continue to finance and support terrorism in Iraq.
(standup)
Both Iran and Britain are denying any speculation that the release had anything to do with events in Iraq -- news that an Iranian envoy could visit five Iranians held by U-S forces, and that another Iranian envoy was released by gunmen in Iraq.
(UK Arrivals 3 -- various of plane taxiing in, crew getting off, etc.)
Blair insisted NO deal was made with Tehran for the crew's release.
It didn't take long for the sailors and marines to celebrate... reporters on board say there was lots of champagne and laughter on the flight home.
And they emerged in crisp uniforms, which a military spokesman says were sent to Tehran on a British Airways flight as soon as the government learned of their release.
Melissa Gray, the Associated Press, London.
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