Reuters, citing the Univision interview, quotes Carter as saying that “the sailors apparently did not radio in to tell USA commanders they were off-course before encountering the Iranians”. That was given as the reason that the United States need not apologize for the incident as demanded by Iran, since the crew could not be blamed for equipment failures.
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The sailors had been held aboard two US Navy patrol boats in the Arabian Gulf on Tuesday.
As noted by the U.S. Naval Institute, the images are scaring.
Lucas Tomlinson is the Pentagon and State Department producer for Fox News Channel.
The sailors were released on January 13, a day after Iran detained them. Relieved U.S. officials said the high-level contacts were a side benefit of the intense negotiations that produced the landmark nuclear deal with Tehran last summer.
The crew, operating two small Navy Riverine boats, was on a routine trip between Kuwait and Bahrain when the Iranians approached and eventually boarded the USA vessels, US officials said.
“This is a sign of our might”, Araqchi said Wednesday to Iranian media outlet Fars News.
USA military officials said the video, which was posted online after the sailors’ release, appeared authentic but claimed the apology was obviously staged. “It was a navigational mistake”.
Tuesday’s incident recalled the 2009 arrest of three American hikers by Iran as they traveled along the country’s border with Iraq.
After the release, a video on Iranian television purported to show several Americans kneeling, with their hands clasped behind their heads.
It also harkens back to the height of the Vietnam War, when North Vietnam released staged videos of US service members in captivity who were being tortured behind the scenes.
He said, “The U.S. Navy has initial statements from the sailors, but is now conducting a full debrief, so additional information may come to light”. It is unclear under what circumstances the apology was made.
McDonough told a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Wednesday the White House is very pleased to have the sailors “back with us”. “And nobody likes to see our sailors in that position”. I’m very glad they’re safe. “I mean, that’s – you know, that’s less than helpful”. He said Tehran did not consider the U.S. Navyboats violating Iranian territorial waters as an “innocent passage”.
“It will occur, and it will occur very soon”, he said.
“It was a misunderstanding”, the sailor said on the video. “The Iranians’ behavior in this situation was completely uncalled for”.
The officials stressed that the full investigation must be completed before the military can be certain about what happened.
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The Riverine boats were not part of the carrier strike group, and were on a training mission, the officials said. Some while the sailors were in custody, some after they were repatriated. It is not clear whether they were lower on fuel than expected.
