March 31 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush said Iran's seizure of 15 British sailors and marines in the Persian Gulf is ``inexcusable'' and the U.S. stands behind the U.K. government in its attempts to resolve the standoff.

``The Iranians must give back the hostages,'' Bush told reporters after meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Camp David, the presidential retreat in rural Maryland. The U.K. personnel are ``innocent, they did nothing wrong and they were summarily plucked out of the water.''

Bush, making his first public comments on the situation, said he backs British Prime Minister Tony Blair's efforts to settle the situation ``peacefully.''

The March 23 seizure of sailors and marines in a waterway separating Iran and Iraq has heightened international tensions in the region. Iran is under United Nations sanctions for refusing to end uranium enrichment for a nuclear program that Western countries allege is being used to develop weapons. The U.S. and the U.K. also accuse Iran of supporting militias carrying out attacks in Iraq.

Bush said he supports Blair's stance that there will be ``no quid pro quos'' to gain the release of U.K. personnel. He also supported the U.K. government's contention that the sailors were in Iraqi waters at the time.

Iran's ambassador to Russia, Gholamreza Ansari, said that the matter would be more easily solved if Britain acknowledged that the sailors had illegally entered Iran's waters, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

`Uproar'

``The intrusion of the British sailors into Iran's territory didn't need'' to produce ``such an uproar,'' Ansari told Russian state-run news channel Vesti-24 in an interview yesterday.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said today that British government is trying to ``encourage Iran to move to a way to peacefully resolve this issue.''

In response to another question, Bush said he continues to have ``full confidence'' in embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is under fire in Congress over the firings of eight federal prosecutors last year and contradictory explanations for the dismissals.

Support for Gonzales

Gonzales is ``an honorable and an honest man and he has my full confidence,'' Bush said. ``There is no credible evidence that there has been any wrongdoing'' in the firings, he said.

A former top aide to Gonzales at a congressional hearing this week contradicted some of the attorney general's previous public statements asserting he played a minimal role in the firings of the U.S. attorneys.

House and Senate committees are investigating whether the dismissals were carried out for improper political reasons, such as to interfere with criminal prosecutions.

The meeting between Bush and Lula was intended to advance talks on trade and development of biofuel technology that the two leaders began during Bush's stop in Sao Paulo March 9.

At the top of their agenda was looking for ways to bridge differences that have stalled the Doha round of World Trade Organization.

``It is in our interests that we work on a deal that treats America fairly, treats Brazil fairly as well as other nations fairly,'' Bush said. The administration is willing to cut agricultural subsidies in a ``substantial way'' to break the deadlock as long as the U.S. gains broader access to markets overseas, he said.

The trade talks are ``central in our struggle against poverty,'' Lula said through a translator. He added that after his session with Bush, ``I've never left a meeting with so much optimism.''

The Doha talks resumed in January after breaking down last July after the U.S. resisted further cuts in its farm subsidies unless India, the European Union and Japan agreed to steep cuts in their farm duties.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brendan Murray at Camp David, Maryland, at brmurray@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 31, 2007 18:19 EDT