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. “So that seems to be the original cause of this, according to the interviews that we have done”.
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So a search-and-rescue operation was undertaken, and at least one USA ship crossed into Iranian waters to look for the crew after alerting the Iranian navy of their intentions.
Carter said that the sailors were not on “a covert mission”. It’s not yet clear if he was directly ordered to apologize, the official said.
“They did not report this navigational error” to Navy commanders at the time the incident occurred on January 12, Carter added.
A U.S. Naval Forces Central Command news release said the sailors departed Farsi Island shortly before 4 a.m. EST aboard the two riverine command boats they had been operating when they lost contact with the U.S. Navy.
The State Department and the White House both said they did not issue a formal apology to Iran.
While the nine men and one woman sailor were not physically mistreated, the information from the defense official was the first indication they were under some direct mental duress from the Iranians.
A senior United States defence official said the circumstances surrounding the incident were still not entirely clear.
Kerry thanked Iran for its cooperation in the release of the sailors.
“The information that they have given us, and through their commanders is that they did stray accidentally into Iranian waters due to a navigation error”, Carter said in a television interview with Univision at U.S. Southern Command in Miami.
The airing of footage of the incident, which shows the sailors on their knees with their hands up while surrounded by armed Iranian Revolutionary Guards, has generated controversy, with Carter telling reporters Thursday, “Obviously I don’t like to see our people being detained by a foreign military”.
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.
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“What we are most happy about here in the State Department is that we were able to get them home in less than 24 hours, (with) 10 fingers, 10 toes, nobody hurt”.
