American sailors held by Iran reportedly released

Iranian state media on Wednesday reported that all 10 U.S. Navy sailors, who had been detained since Tuesday, have been freed. The sailors and their two small boats reportedly drifted into Iranian waters after experiencing mechanical problems.

The U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet had no immediate comment or confirmation of the release.


Credit: Reuters

Prior to news of their release, the Islamic republic accused the sailors of trespassing. American officials said Tehran had assured them that the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly.

Addressing the incident earlier Wednesday, Revolutionary Guard Corps' Navy chief Gen. Ali Fadavi said, "[The] investigation shows that entry of American sailors into Iran's territorial waters was due to mechanical problems in their navigation system."

"U.S. naval forces and their frigate showed an unprofessional behavior and had air and naval moves for 40 minutes in the area," Fadavi said. He said Tehran did not consider the U.S. Navy boats violating Iranian territorial waters as "innocent passage."

"Certainly U.S. presence in Persian Gulf and their passage has never been innocent and we do not deem their passage as innocent," he said.

The IRGC also said on Wednesday that Tehran asked the United States for an apology for "violating" Iran's waters.

"Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was in touch with U.S. Secretary of State Kerry," Fadavi said. "Zarif took a firm stance as the sailors had violated Iran's territorial waters and asked the United States for an apology," he added.

The sailors, nine men and one woman, were being held overnight at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. Officials said they believe the U.S. had spoken to one of the crew, and all 10 were fine and uninjured.

Gen. Ramezan Sharif, an IRGC spokesman, said the U.S. military personnel were to be debriefed.

"If it is determined, after the investigation is carried out, that their action was not intentional, another approach will be taken," he said. "But If it's determined, after they are debriefed and interviewed, that their entry [into Iran's territorial waters] was for intelligence gathering or irrelevant action, definitely the authorities will take the necessary measures."

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press that the Riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them.

U.S. officials said that the incident happened near Farsi Island in the middle of the Gulf. They said some type of mechanical trouble with one of the boats caused them to drift into Iranian territorial waters near the island, and they were picked up by Iran.

Iran's semiofficial Fars News Agency said the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy detained 10 foreign forces, believed to be Americans, and said the sailors were trespassing in Iranian waters.

"We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly," Cook said.

The incident came amid heightened tensions with Iran, and only hours before President Barack Obama delivered his final State of the Union address to Congress and the public. It set off a dramatic series of calls and meetings as U.S. officials tried to determine the exact status of the crew and reach out to Iranian leaders.

Kerry, who forged a personal relationship with Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations, called Zarif immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior U.S. official. Kerry "personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome," the official said.

Kerry learned of the incident around 12:30 p.m. EST (1730 GMT) as he and Defense Secretary Ash Carter were meeting their Filipino counterparts at the State Department, the official said.

Officials said the sailors were part of Riverine Squadron 1 based in San Diego and were deployed to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain. When the U.S. lost contact with the boats, ships attached to the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier strike group began searching the area, along with aircraft flying off the Truman.

Officials said a radio signal from one of the boats showed that they were on Farsi Island, setting off efforts to contact the Iranians. The Riverine boats were not part of the carrier strike group, and were on a training mission as they traveled between Kuwait and Bahrain, officials said.

The Riverine boats are not considered high-tech and don't contain any sensitive equipment, so there were no concerns about the Iranians gaining access to the crafts.

Republican lawmakers seized on the incident as further evidence that Iran is not to be trusted. The House was scheduled to vote Wednesday on Republican-backed legislation that would give Congress greater oversight of the landmark Iran nuclear agreement, which Republicans have derided as a victory for Tehran.

Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte said it was "unthinkable that the administration would lift sanctions and permit Iran to receive billions of dollars in sanctions relief under the nuclear agreement, even as the regime brazenly violates its international obligations and rushes to develop the ballistic missile capability to deliver a potential nuclear weapon to the United States."

Republican front-runner Donald Trump said the sailors' capture was an indictment on the state of U.S. policies.

"They said they're going to release them. Oh isn't that nice. They're going to release them," Trump told supporters at a campaign stop in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

"It literally just happened, and I think it's not so good. It's just, it's just an indication of where the hell we're going. I hope they get released, and fast," he continued.

Another Republican hopeful, Jeb Bush, also chimed in.

"If our sailors aren't coming home yet, they need to be now. No more bargaining. Obama's humiliatingly weak Iran policy is exposed again," he wrote on Twitter.

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