Secretary of State John Kerry used the personal relationship he has formed with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to work out the crews’ release.
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“Our technical investigations showed the two U.S. Navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters inadvertently”, the IRGC said in a statement carried by state television.
“But calm was restored to the region with the timely action of the IRGC forces and came under our 100 percent control”, said Fadavi, who also described the reaction as “the USS Truman Aircraft carrier showed unprofessional moves for 40 minutes after the detention of the trespassers, while we were highly prepared with our coast-to-sea missiles, missile-launching speedboats and our numerous capabilities”.
A senior USA defence official says the 10 American sailors briefly held by Iran are heading to a US military facility in Qatar and likely have already arrived there.
“Iran’s capture of these sailors raises serious questions about the Iranian regime and what it will take for the Obama administration to understand that Iran is not a partner in peace”, Pompeo said in a statement. “At this point, I would not have any reason to think that this incident would have an impact on the implementation of the worldwide agreement to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon”.
Opponents of Iran’s rapprochement with the west, particularly within the Republican dominated US Congress, had sought to undermine the nuclear deal following the detention of the US military personnel. The U.S. commander who spoke on camera has indicated he felt pressure to talk about how well they were being treated. “I’m not going to get ahead of judgments by the Navy”, said John Kirby, U.S. State Department spokesman.
Carter reiterated United States discontent with Iran’s use of the video.
The boats had drifted off course, but one was also suffering engine trouble, making it impossible for the Americans to rapidly back off and return to global waters when they were approached by armed Iranian naval boats, the official said. USA officials lost touch with the vessels, which ended up in Iranian waters, near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf.
US version: Boats experienced some sort of mechanical failure between Kuwait and Bahrain and ended up by mistake in Iranian waters. In 2007, Iran captured 15 British Navy sailors and marines and held them for 13 days.
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 and Zarif grew acquainted through the recent nuclear deal between the Islamic Republic and world powers.
He said the Pentagon was still talking with the crew about what happened, but said the sailors were “clearly out of the position that they meant to be in”.
Iranian media had a field day, publishing and broadcasting some 20 photographs and several videos of the U.S. sailors, two of which showed a male sailor, identified as Lt. David Nartker, a 2011 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, apologizing for the incident. Last month, Iran conducted a rocket test near USA warships and boats passing through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, the route for about a fifth of the world’s oil.
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In one of those incidents, Iran temporarily seized a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship over what it said was a commercial dispute before releasing it with its crew more than a week later.
