Hardliners who – for their separate reasons in each of the countries where such hardliners live – are still determined to sabotage the agreement to restrict Iran’s nuclear program must have been salivating when they first heard on Tuesday that Iran had taken into custody two U.S. Navy patrol boats and their crews in the Persian Gulf.
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This frame grab from Tuesday, January 12, 2016 video by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency, shows detention of American Navy sailors by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, Iran.
“It was a mistake that was our fault, and we apologize for our mistake”, the sailor is shown saying on state television.
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. “Following their apology, they have been released to worldwide waters in the Gulf”, said a statement read out on state television, noting the sailors had not entered Iranian waters intentionally and had no “hostile intent”.
“I’m pleased that 10 U.S. Navy sailors have departed Iran and are now back in U.S. hands”, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Cater said in a statement.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press that the riverine boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the US lost contact with them. Other images posted in Iranian media appear to show weapons confiscated by the Iranian officials, including assault rifles and light machine guns, along with belts of ammunition. “It is clear that today is a testament to the critical role that diplomacy plays in keeping our country safe, secure and strong”.
“We did explain that this was basically a routine transit mission, that it had no way – had in no way meant to end up anywhere on Farsi Island or in Iranian territorial waters”, the official said.
The sailors were expected to be transferred to US custody Wednesday morning local time.
The Obama administration portrayed the outcome as a diplomatic victory; critics of the Iran nuclear deal considered the whole affair indicative of the risks in letting a longtime pariah back into the global fold. The sailor also added that the Iranians had behaved in a “fantastic” manner during the Americans’ detention and he thanked them for their “hospitality” and “assistance”. “I can’t speak to the inner workings of the Iranian judicial system or even the political system that they can’t resolve this issue and return these individuals home”.
Carter later flew to Tampa to meet with leaders of U.S. Central Command, which oversees the U.S. military in the Middle East. At a news conference at Central Command headquarters, he declined to discuss the circumstances in more detail.
Kerry, who forged a personal relationship with Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations, called his Iranian counterpart immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior US official.
Iranian state TV has rerun a video clip of one of the held USA sailors apologizing for the intrusion into Iranian territorial waters.
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“When you have a problem with a boat, do you apologize the boat had a problem?” Kerry and other Cabinet members involved in the Iranian incident attended the president’s State of the Union address. Kerry recently said the deal’s implementation was “days away”.
