Iran's anti-Western president has the last laugh

Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is best known abroad for hogging the headlines with speeches that worry the West. His dramatic gesture on Wednesday grabbed the headlines -- but, for once, delighted Western audiences.

Taking television viewers round the world by surprise, he defused a diplomatic crisis by announcing the release of 15 British sailors and marines held since March 23 for what Iran says was a violation of its territory, a charge Britain denied.

Western leaders welcomed the announcement and oil prices, which had spiked earlier in the row, slid back.

"How are you? ... So you came on a mandatory vacation," the president joked with one of the released Britons, showing the kind of common touch that helped him win the presidency in the 2005 elections.

"Good luck," he told them as he smiled and chatted briefly with the sailors, now in suits or civilian dress, in the garden of the presidential office as rain threatened.

One of the Britons told the president after shaking his hand: "We are very grateful for your forgiveness. I would like to thank yourself and the Iranian people."