TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's ambassador to Russia renewed a threat Iranian officials made earlier this week, saying 15 British sailors held by Iran could be tried for violating international law, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported Saturday.

An image taken from Iranian television Friday March 30, 2007 showing three British service personnel, at left a serviceman whose name was given in Farsi as Nathan Thomas Summers, Faye Turney, 26, the only woman amongst the British navy personnel, centre, and a man believed to be Adam Sperry, some of the British personnel being held captive by Iran. [AP]

Gholam-Reza Ansari told Russian television Friday that Iran had launched a legal investigation of the British sailors and said: "They will be tried if there is enough evidence of guilt," IRNA reported on its Web site.

Special coverage: British Sailors Detained Related readings: Iran airs second British's apology UN urges resolution of Iran seizure UK turns up heat on Iran over sailors Iran TV shows footage of UK sailors Brit presses Iran; woman may be freed Blair warns Iran standoff could escalate Iran: Sailors being treated humanely MOD: Iran seizes 15 Royal Navy personnel

Iran aired television footage on Friday of another British sailor "confessing" to trespassing in its waters, escalating a dispute over Tehran's seizure of 15 navy personnel, as the EU deplored Tehran's action.

EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Germany deplored the seizure of the Britons as a breach of international law and threatened to take measures if they were not released soon.

Firing off new volleys in the propaganda war, Iran also released a third letter attributed to the sole woman among those seized, saying she had been "sacrificed" to the policies of Britain and the United States.

The EU move came after Britain, which on Thursday secured a less strident UN Security Council condemnation of the Iranian action, vowed it would work to further isolate Tehran over the crisis.

Prime Minister Tony Blair voiced his "disgust" at the latest broadcast of the captive Britons and Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said she saw no sign that Iran was seeking to solve the crisis.

"We've got to pursue this with the necessary firmness and determination but also patience," Blair said.

Tehran has so far refused to bow to mounting world pressure to release the 14 men and one woman seized in the northern Gulf a week ago and now being held in a secret location.

Britain insists they were on a routine anti-smuggling patrol in Iraqi waters under a UN mandate but Iran says they were in its territorial waters.

"I would like to apologise for entering your waters without any permission," the Royal Navy serviceman, identified as Nathan Thomas Sommers, said in an interview broadcast on Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam television.

The interview was interspersed with images of the sailor sitting with two of his comrades, including the only woman, Faye Turney, smiling, and with bowls of fruit and flowers in front of them.

Turney's latest letter, released by Iranian authorities in London, calls for British troops to withdraw from Iraq.

Paul Beaver, a leading defence expert, said Turney's pullout call suggested the letters were written under duress. "She knows that as a serving member of the armed forces she has no public opinion on that," he explained.

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