You talk as if all the Iranians can do is respond to the evil British. In fact, it should be very easy for them to release the sailors AND save face - they've already broadcast images of them "confessing"; all they need to do is release them and make some kind of grandiose, insulting statement, and the matter will be over. Obviously, whoever is holding the sailors wants to prolong the crisis, possibly for reasons of domestic politics.

As to Blair "running to the U.N., the E.U. and the U.S." - we have no idea what's going on behind the scenes. Blair's activities may well be the visible part of a tactical scheme that is not being advertised.