Television grab of Nathan Thomas Summers speaking on Iranian television March 30, 2007. Iranian television broadcast footage of three of 15 captured British sailors and marines on Friday and said one had confessed to entering Iranian waters illegally and had apologised to the Iranian people. [Reuters/Al Alam Television]

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.

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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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