Tehran, March 26 (AP): Iran said today it is interrogating 15 British sailors and Marines to determine if their alleged entry into Iranian waters was “intentional or unintentional” before deciding what to do with them — a first, tentative sign it could be seeking a way out of the standoff.

The two countries continued to disagree about whether the sailors were in Iranian waters when they were captured, with Britain categorically saying they were not and Iran saying it has proof that they were. So far it has been impossible to independently confirm where the sailors were, except that they were in long-disputed waters between Iraq and Iran around the Shatt al-Arab, known in Iran as the Arvand river, a waterway flowing into the Gulf that marks the border.

Nonetheless, the Iranian emphasis on the sailors’ intent today was a noticeable de-escalation from the certainty expressed on Saturday by Iran’s military chief, General Ali Reza Afshar. He had said the 15 sailors had “confessed” to “aggression into the Islamic Republic of Iran's waters”.

Other Iranian officials suggested afterward that the 15 might be charged with a crime — presumably espionage or trespassing — for knowingly entering Iranian territorial waters. But deputy foreign minister Mehzi Mostafavi said today that the 15 — 14 men and one woman — were still being interrogated. “It should become clear whether their entry was intentional or unintentional. After that is clarified, the necessary decision will be made,” Mostafavi said.

Iran has refused to give an indication of the sailors’ whereabouts or to allow British officials to speak with them, but assured the British ambassador to Tehran, Geoffrey Adams, that they were in good health. There were fears in Britain that the fate of the 15 could get caught up in the political tensions between Tehran and the West.