Tearful homecoming for sailors

By Toby Melville

CHIVENOR (Reuters) - Fifteen British military personnel freed by Iran after a two-week stand-off were reunited with their families on Thursday as attention turned to how the incident could impact on nuclear diplomacy.

The 14 men and one woman hugged and kissed tearful relatives at an air base in Devon ahead of a debriefing session, after landing in London from Tehran.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to the surprise of the 15, their families and the British government, said on Wednesday he had decided to forgive and free the group, who were seized along with their patrol boats in the northern Gulf on March 23.

Iran said they had strayed into its waters but Britain said they were in Iraqi waters on a regular U.N. mission.

In a statement released several hours after their return, the 15 said their arrival at Heathrow airport had been a "dream come true" and said they would not forget the welcome.

"The past two weeks have been very difficult, but by staying together as a team, we kept our spirits up, drawing great comfort from the knowledge that our loved ones would be waiting for us on our return," they said in a statement read out by a Royal Marines spokesman.

BRITISH DEATHS

Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed their safe return but said the death of four British soldiers in Iran's neighbour Iraq earlier on Thursday had tempered any sense of jubilation. Two of the four killed were women, the Ministry of Defence said.