Meanwhile, the Navy chief of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday that the American boats showed “unprofessional acts” for 40 minutes before being picked up by Iranian forces after entering the country’s territorial waters.
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The U.S. State Department had denied Iran’s claims that U.S. officials apologized to Iran, in part to secure the sailors’ release.
He criticized Secretary of State John Kerry for not only working on the Iran nuclear deal but thanking their leaders for promptly releasing the sailors.
U.S. Central Command said of the apology video, “the video appears to be authentic but we can not speak to the conditions of the situation or what the crew was experiencing at the time”.
It lost contact with the patrol boats as they moved through the Gulf between Kuwait and Bahrain on Tuesday.
In the video, the sailor is asked whether Global Positioning System showed they entered Iranian water and he replied, “I believe so”.
Units of the Revolutionary Guard seized two U.S. Navy boats on Tuesday in a stretch of the Persian Gulf after one boat suffered a mechnical problem.
However, a man identified as the USA commander of the ship did apologise on Iranian television. It also showed machine guns and ammunition they had onboard.
The sailors departed the island at 8:43 a.m. GMT aboard the boats they were detained with, the Navy said.
Hunter also said the USA military would have to change its “tactics, techniques and procedures” due to information Iranians now possess.
The sailors were then brought to the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman for additional medical assessments.
When the incident was announced, thousands of Americans started debating about the relations among the USA and Iran.
Before announcing the U.S. sailors’ release, Press TV reported the group of 10, being held on Farsi Island off the coast of Iran, were “likely to be released soon” because their presence there was unintended, quoting a spokesman from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, CNN reported.
“By the way, I don’t know if you saw these images-they are really horrifying, and it really made me really angry this morning to see”, the Florida senator said.
Iran freed the soldiers on Wednesday after holding them overnight, bringing a swift end to an incident that had rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers.
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Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said it was “unthinkable that the administration would lift sanctions and permit Iran to receive billions of dollars in sanctions relief under the nuclear agreement, even as the regime brazenly violates its global obligations and rushes to develop the ballistic missile capability to deliver a potential nuclear weapon to the United States”.
