One clip shows the US crewmembers – nine men and one woman – surrendering as they kneel on the swaying boat’s deck, hands on their heads. Even if that turns out not to have happened, it’s unimaginable that the crew wouldn’t have known of the location of an island that houses a large Iranian naval base.
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USA and Iranian officials scrambled to defuse the situation, which unfolded as Iran prepares to finally implement a nuclear deal with world powers aimed at ending the Islamic republic’s long worldwide isolation.
The State Department said Wednesday afternoon that US officials were looking into the videos and would respond if the USA determined that the sailors were treated inappropriately. Congress and the president should not be swayed by Iran’s intentional attempts to humiliate America.
“He is not authorized and he should not be apologizing for anything he does while on active duty”, Harmer said. Still images used in the report showed the sailors sitting calmly on Persian rugs.
A Pentagon statement confirmed the sailors were free.
“A search-and-rescue effort was launched – including sending a U.S. Navy vessel inside Iranians waters due to concern the sailors could have been overboard and in the water”, it adds.
The engine problem did not cause the boats to go off course but apparently prevented them from evading the Iranians once the crews realized they were inside Iran’s territorial waters.
The riverine boats were released to different teams of US sailors, who took them to their original intended destination in Bahrain.
Carter said he wanted to personally thank Secretary of State John Kerry for his “diplomatic engagement with Iran”.
The Iranians released that video shortly after Vice President Joe Biden insisted to CBS that there had been no apology because “there was nothing to apologize for”.
But Republicans called it evidence that Iran, soon to benefit from as much as $100 billion in worldwide sanctions relief, remains a threat. The sailors were transported to a military facility in Qatar for evaluation and debriefing on Wednesday, but the process is expected to take a few days.
Carter said during an interview with the Fusion America television channel near Miami that the sailors had “obviously had mis-navigated”.
“Certainly US presence in Persian Gulf and their passage has never been innocent and we do not deem their passage as innocent”, he said.
The vessels were apprehended by Iran s Revolutionary Guards while en route from Kuwait to Bahrain.
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Relations with Washington were strained by claims last month that Iran fired missiles close to a USA aircraft carrier in the Gulf.
