LONDON, March 30: Britain vowed on Friday to increase Iran's isolation over its detention of 15 British naval personnel, but stressed the need for patience in managing the crisis to avoid putting the detainees at risk.

Prime Minister Tony Blair voiced “disgust” at the latest video footage of detainees, adding that the “parading and manipulation” of British service personnel would fool no one.

“We’ve got to proceed as we are, which is to make sure that Iran is increasingly isolated,” he said.

But he added: “We’ve just got to pursue this with the necessary firmness and determination but also patience ... The most important thing is to make sure that our people are returned safe.” Blair said that Iran had to realise they had nothing to gain from continuing to hold the marines and royal navy personnel they seized in the northern Gulf last Friday. The reaction came after new footage aired in Iran showed one of the British seamen seized at gunpoint last week confessing to having trespassed into Iranian waters.

A Royal Navy serviceman identified as Nathan Thomas Summers, speaking on footage aired by Arabic-language Iranian television, said: “I would like to apologise for entering your waters without any permission.” The Foreign Office denounced the new video as “outrageous propaganda” -- a condemnation echoed by Blair.

“I really don't know why the Iranian regime keep doing this. All it does is enhance people's sense of disgust,” Blair said in Manchester.

Iran's embassy in London also released a third handwritten letter purportedly from Faye Turney, 26, the only woman among the captured crew.—AFP