• Civilian crew seized on yacht sailing from Bahrain to Dubai • Government in contact with the Iranians – David Miliband

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

Five British sailors have been detained in Iran after their racing yacht was stopped by the Iranian navy while sailing from Bahrain to Dubai, the Foreign Office said tonight.

The civilian crew were seized last week while on a racing yacht sailing from Bahrain to Dubai after allegedly straying into Iranian waters.

The Foreign Office said a racing yacht owned by Sail Bahrain and crewed by five British nationals, had been stopped by Iranian naval vessels on 25 November.

The five crew members, whose families have been informed, are said to be safe and well in Iran.

The foreign secretary, David Miliband, said the government was in contact with the Iranians.

"FCO officials immediately contacted the Iranian authorities in London and in Tehran on the evening of 25 November, both to seek clarification and to try and resolve the matter swiftly," he said.

"Our Ambassador in Tehran has raised the issue with the Iranian Foreign Ministry and we have discussed the matter with the Iranian Embassy in London. I hope this issue will soon be resolved. We will remain in close touch with the Iranian authorities, as well as the families."

The Foreign Office said the yacht might have strayed "inadvertently" into Iranian waters.

It is believed the sailors were heading to Dubai to join the Dubai-Muscat Offshore Sailing Race.

Sail Bahrain was recently launched by yachting company Team Pindar.

The detention of the sailors comes at a time when relations between Iran and the west are already extremely strained over the country's plans to build 10 new nuclear fuel plants.

It is not the first time that Britons have been captured by the Iranian authorities while at sea.

Iran took 15 British service personnel hostage on 23 March 2007 and held them for 13 days. The Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines, from the frigate HMS Cornwall, were taken at gunpoint by Iranian warships during a routine search of a cargo ship in the northern Persian Gulf.

Iran alleged the frigate had strayed into Iranian territorial waters but the Ministry of Defence denied the allegation and said the ship was in Iraqi waters.

Footage of crew members was broadcast by Iranian television. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad agreed to pardon and free them on 4 April 2007.

In June 2004, six Royal Marines and two Royal Navy sailors were held for three days. They were part of a Royal Navy team which had been training the new Iraqi security forces to conduct anti-smuggling operations in the Shatt al-Arab waterway and were arrested while on their way to Basra to deliver one of the patrol boats to the new Iraqi riverine patrol service.

The Iranian authorities said the boats had entered Iranian territorial waters in the Shatt al-Arab waterway which divides Iran from Iraq. The Iran-Iraq border runs down the middle of the waterway.

Some of those captured were also paraded on television.