The Guards operate land and naval units separate from the regular armed forces and stage frequent war games in the Gulf, which separates Iran from its regional rival Saudi Arabia and a USA naval base in Bahrain.
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Image of U.S. Sailors detained in Iran.
The Fifth Fleet said an investigation of the incident was underway but retired Navy Commander Chris Harmer, who served in the Fifth Fleet, said “there’s no excuse for U.S. Navy sailors to allow Iranian sailors to board their vessel”. Other pictures show her with a headscarf.
“There’s nothing to apologize for”.
Why do you suppose the Navy sent two boats on this mission? No, and there was no looking for any apology.
Shortly before noon Wednesday the sailors used their boats to head towards the U.S. Navy cruiser USS Anzio which was located in worldwide waters just off Iranian territorial waters. “The detained USA sailors, after it was realized that their entry into Iran’s territorial waters was unintentional, and after the sailors apologized, were released into worldwide waters in the Persian Gulf”, the channel reported, attributing the statement to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
And how close do Iranian rockets have to come to USA ships before President Obama takes real action against Iran?
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards released ten United States sailors after “it was determined that the American Marines did not enter Iranian waters intentionally”.
The Revolutionary Guard’s 200,000-strong force is different from the regular Iranian military and is charged with protecting the ruling system.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press that the boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when us officials lost contact with them.
The Persian Gulf has been a flash point in the Middle East, and the incident comes on the same day President Barack Obama is set to give his annual State of the Union address.
A senior US defence official said the circumstances surrounding the incident were still not entirely clear.
The official credited the relatively quick resolution of the situation to the relationship built up between the two countries over the course of the negotiations of the nuclear deal with Iran and said the situation “undoubtedly would have been more complicated to unwind”, in the absence of that framework.
“We built a global coalition, with sanctions and principled diplomacy, to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran”.
US Defense Secretary Ash Carter thanked Kerry after the sailors’ release and couched the incident in humanitarian terms, noting that “the US Navy routinely provides assistance to foreign sailors in distress”.
A USA official said Tuesday it is believed one of the American boats had suffered mechanical issues and drifted with the other into Iranian waters.
Boats entered Iranian waters by mistake-IRGC.
What admirable “diplomatic” goal was served by forcing our sailors to their knees at gunpoint, and then publicly releasing the video thereof?
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It comes at a sensitive time, amid reports that a deal on Iran’s nuclear activities is just days away from implementation.
