

· Sailors tell of 'psychological torture'
· US offered military action to free 15
Freed hostages
Four of the 15 freed British sailors and Royal Marines speak to the media at Chivenor in Devon. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty
The British hostages held captive in Iran for a fortnight yesterday told of the moments they thought they were about to be executed by their captors as the first full account of their ordeal was made public.

The most frightening time was when the 14 men and one woman, Faye Turney, were lined up against a wall, handcuffed and blindfolded. They heard weapons being cocked and some of them thought they were about to be shot.

Royal Marine Joe Tindall said: "They [the Iranians] changed from the military dress to all black, their faces covered. There were weapons cocking. Someone, I'm not sure who, someone said: 'Lads, lads, I think we're going to get executed.' After that comment someone was sick and as far as I was concerned he had just had his throat cut." Lieutenant Felix Carman added: "Some of us feared the worst."

As the sailors and marines told their stories, the Guardian learned that the US had offered to buzz Iran with fighter jets during the impasse. Diplomatic sources said that, Pentagon officials offered a series of military options, including for US combat aircraft to mount aggressive patrols over Iranian Revolutionary Guard bases. Britain told the Pentagon to calm the situation by staying out of it and tone down military exercises in the Gulf.

Speaking in detail for the first time, six of the 15 sailors and marines - who returned to the UK on Thursday after being freed by Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - defended themselves against accusations that they had been captured too easily. They were paraded on television apparently admitting they had trespassed into Iranian waters. It emerged that Acting Leading Seaman Turney, a mother from Plymouth, had been separated from the men soon after capture and was under the impression for days that they had been sent back and she was the only one remaining in Iran.




In captivity, they were kept in isolation and deprived of sleep. They were told they had been abandoned by their government and could admit they had trespassed and go home, or stay in prison for seven years. At least one of the servicemen was hit.

The group denied cooperating with the Iranians, but said they had made a "conscious decision" to "make a controlled release of non-operational information". They have been given two weeks' compassionate leave.

Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence did not comment on the press conference at Royal Marines Barracks Chivenor, north Devon. The Foreign Office was considering its response.

Last night Iranian television claimed the hostages statements had been "dictated" by the MoD.

Meanwhile, the names of four British soldiers killed in Iraq on Thursday were released yesterday. Clarence House said one of them, Second Lieutenant Joanna Dyer, was a close friend of Prince William from their time together at Sandhurst.