Families fear Iran will use captive sailors for political gain

The families of the five British yachtsmen seized after their boat drifted into Iranian waters spoke today of fears that the men could be used as a political "bargaining chip".

It came as Iranian authorities warned of serious repercussions if the five had "evil intentions".

The men, four young sailors and a radio journalist, were seized on Wednesday by Iran's Revolutionary Guards after entering the country's waters as they sailed to Dubai for a race. It is believed their boat, Kingdom of Bahrain, had lost its propeller.

News of the seizure only emerged last night after a diplomatic blackout used to aid their release was lifted.

The Cabinet was briefed this morning and Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the capture of the civilians had "nothing to do with politics".

But Plymouth businessman David Young, whose 21-year-old son Olly was on the boat, said: "We're all concerned and the sooner they are released the better. It is dragging along longer than we thought it would. It's just a worry that there are diplomatic stresses at the moment. We just hope they're not used as a bargaining chip."

The others being held are Olly Smith, 31, from Southampton, Luke Porter, 21, from Somerset, Sam Usher, 21, of Scarborough, and Bahrain-based Dave Bloomer, an Irishman in his sixties who holds a British passport.

Mr Porter's father Charles, of Weston-super-Mare, said he and wife Beverley were worried: "We are holding things together as a family at the moment. I haven't spoken to him since yesterday. He was as good as can be expected. We are very concerned."

Nicola Drayton, fiancée of Mr Usher, said it was a difficult time for her and their two children. She said: "You just get on, you have no choice."

Iran confirmed this morning that it had seized the five men. Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's head of staff, told the country's Fars news agency: "Our measures will be hard and serious if we find out they had evil intentions."

News of their capture emerged amid heightened tensions between Britain and Iran over its nuclear capabilities.

Mr Miliband sought to play down the incident, saying it involved only civilians and bore no comparison to Iran's capture of 15 Royal Navy and Marines personnel two years ago.

Mr Miliband said: "There's certainly no suggestion of any malicious intent on the part of the five young people." He said he expected a statement from Tehran this afternoon. "There's certainly no confrontation or argument," he told the BBC. "As far as we are aware, these people are being well-treated."

But Tory MP Ben Wallace, chairman of the British-Iranian All-Party Parliamentary Group, said Iran could be trying to gain political leverage. "When [Iran] wants to make a point, it takes hostages," he said.

The sailors were heading to Dubai for the 360-mile Dubai-Muscat race after they "strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters", say operators Team Pindar.