As President Barack Obama delivered his final State of the Union Address Tuesday night, 10 members of the U.S. Navy were bring held by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
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Iran released a set of videos of us sailors who were released Wednesday after being captured and detained overnight, raising questions about whether the country’s hard-line military force mistreated the Americans or violated worldwide law by using them for propaganda purposes.
The sailors were “safely returned” after departing Iran’s Farsi Island at 3:43 a.m. ET aboard the riverine vessels they had been operating when the incident occurred, according to the U.S. Navy.
Secretary of State John Kerry expressed gratitude to Iranian authorities stating “I am appreciative of the quick and appropriate response of Iranian authorities”.
Delivering a speech on United States foreign policy, Mr Kerry said the peaceful resolution was a “testament to the critical role that diplomacy plays” in keeping the U.S. safe.
They were released today, just days before the controversial Iran nuclear deal is expected to be implemented.
This comes on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near US warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Attributing the boats’s incursion into Iranian waters to a navigation error marked a de-escalation in rhetoric.
The nine men and one woman were being held at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf after being detained nearby on Tuesday.
The two Navy boats experienced mechanical problems and accidentally entered the country’s territorial waters, US officials said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards often take a tough approach to perceived and real territorial violations in what it considers the Persian Gulf.
Still images of the two boats were also shown by state television.
In a short clip, an American sailor is heard saying that it was “our fault” and apologizing to Fars, the semi-official news agency for Iran. The Pentagon is trying to confirm reports that one of the U.S. sailors spoke on bridge-to-bridge radios to the U.S. Navy during the incident.
Carter also expressed frustration about the video released by Iranian TV purporting to show the 10 American sailors kneeling on the deck of their ship with their hands over their heads.
“There was nothing to apologize for”, Biden told CBS News.
The sailors were released Wednesday morning.
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The landmark deal, signed in July previous year, calls for Iran to limit its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of crippling global sanctions.
