MPs have said the decision to allow 15 freed hostages to sell their stories was the result of a "catalogue of serious mistakes".

The Commons defence committee has said it was "unacceptable" that disciplinary action had not been taken against those who allowed the sailors and Royal Marines to sign lucrative media deals.

It described the capture of the personnel in Iran as a "national embarrassment", and said the publicity was "deeply damaging to the reputation of the Royal Navy".

Defence secretary Des Browne apologised in the Commons following the row last April, but the MPs said this "should not absolve others from blame".

"We were told that no action had been taken against individuals, military or civilian, for failings relating to media handling," the added.

"Given the catalogue of serious mistakes made, we think this is unacceptable."

The committee said that a private report by former senior marine Sir Rob Fulton into the incident had been "robust in identifying serious weaknesses".

It criticised the MoD's initial reaction to its inquiry, and said the naval officers in the first witness session was "deeply unsatisfactory".

"The witnesses appeared surprised by the nature of the questions we asked, and were unable to explain to us the chain of events which had occurred prior to the capture of the HMS Cornwall hostages," it said.

"We made it plain that we expected a better response to our inquiry, given the secretary of state's assurance that there would be 'proper parliamentary accountability'.

"This led to a significant change in attitude by the MoD."