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Tony Blair has warned of a "different phase" in the effort to free the British service personnel being held in Iran - as it emerged one of the captives is a mother with a three-year-old daughter.
Faye Turney's family issued an emotional statement as diplomatic efforts were stepped up to win the captives' release.
Faye, 26, is the only woman among the UK marines and sailors seized last Friday.
She has a daughter called Molly, and her husband Adam is also a naval boatman, said The Sun newspaper.
Her family said: "While we understand the media interest in the ongoing incident involving Faye, this remains a very distressing time for us and our family.
"We are grateful for the support shown to us by all personnel involved and appreciate it, but would request that our privacy is respected."
The Prime Minister warned of the new phase in efforts to release the personnel if diplomatic efforts failed.
"What we are trying to do at the moment is to pursue this through the diplomatic channels and make the Iranian government understand these people have to be released and that there is absolutely no justification whatever for holding them.
"I hope we manage to get them to realise they have to release them.
"They should understand... we cannot have a situation where our servicemen and women are seized when actually they are in Iraqi waters under a UN mandate," he said on GMTV.
Earlier, the British Government summoned the Iranian ambassador to repeat its demands for the 15 captives to be freed immediately.
The eight sailors and seven Marines from the Type 22 frigate HMS Cornwall were seized after boarding a dhow suspected of smuggling off the coast of Iraq.
They were held at gunpoint by Iranian forces who surrounded the vessel. The drama happened in the mouth of the Shatt al Arab waterway which divides Iran and Iraq.
Britain insists the troops were not doing anything wrong, but Iran has condemned the boarding as an act of "aggression" and threatened prosecution.
It claims HMS Cornwall strayed into Iranian waters - Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett says it is "very clear" there was no violation.
Faye Turney's family issued an emotional statement as diplomatic efforts were stepped up to win the captives' release.
Faye, 26, is the only woman among the UK marines and sailors seized last Friday.
She has a daughter called Molly, and her husband Adam is also a naval boatman, said The Sun newspaper.
Her family said: "While we understand the media interest in the ongoing incident involving Faye, this remains a very distressing time for us and our family.
"We are grateful for the support shown to us by all personnel involved and appreciate it, but would request that our privacy is respected."
The Prime Minister warned of the new phase in efforts to release the personnel if diplomatic efforts failed.
"What we are trying to do at the moment is to pursue this through the diplomatic channels and make the Iranian government understand these people have to be released and that there is absolutely no justification whatever for holding them.
"I hope we manage to get them to realise they have to release them.
"They should understand... we cannot have a situation where our servicemen and women are seized when actually they are in Iraqi waters under a UN mandate," he said on GMTV.
Earlier, the British Government summoned the Iranian ambassador to repeat its demands for the 15 captives to be freed immediately.
The eight sailors and seven Marines from the Type 22 frigate HMS Cornwall were seized after boarding a dhow suspected of smuggling off the coast of Iraq.
They were held at gunpoint by Iranian forces who surrounded the vessel. The drama happened in the mouth of the Shatt al Arab waterway which divides Iran and Iraq.
Britain insists the troops were not doing anything wrong, but Iran has condemned the boarding as an act of "aggression" and threatened prosecution.
It claims HMS Cornwall strayed into Iranian waters - Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett says it is "very clear" there was no violation.