Iranian news agency FARS had said that the vessels’ crew had been “arrested” by members of the hardline Revolutionary Guard, though American officials said Tuesday that the sailors would be sent on their way promptly.
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State television quoted General Ali Fadavi, the Navy chief of the Revolutionary Guard, saying a mechanical problem in the sailors’ navigation system caused them to enter Iranian waters.
The sailors – nine men and one woman – were held overnight on Iran’s Farsi Island. “We have no problem, sir”, the USA sailor responded.
“US naval force and their frigate showed an unprofessional behavior and had air and naval moves for 40 minutes in the area”, Fadavi said at one point.
Shortly before noon Wednesday the sailors used their boats to head towards the U.S. Navy cruiser USS Anzio which was located in worldwide waters just off Iranian territorial waters.
Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations, but US Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif five times about the issue on Tuesday.
In a statement, Kerry said he knows the importance of naval presence around the world and is pleased the sailors are safe. Marco Rubio said he was disgusted by the images and said they exposed another reason to cancel America’s nuclear agreement with Iran.
Ten U.S. Navy sailors who were traveling from Kuwait to Bahrain yesterday when contact was lost with their pair of small craft are back in U.S. hands. Officials said they believe the USA had spoken to one of the crew, and all 10 were fine and uninjured.
“We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly”, Cook said.
President Obama has yet to comment publicly on the incident, and he did not mention it during his State of the Union address Tuesday night.
U.S. officials also blamed mechanical trouble for the incident.
Kerry and Zarif developed a close working relationship during the nuclear talks, which concluded in July with a deal between Iran and the P5+1 powers of the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany.
“Hopefully this will be resolved, and it won’t be an issue that we’re talking about in a couple of hours”, she said.
State Department spokesman John Kirby echoed Mr Biden’s comments on Twitter, saying there was “absolutely zero truth” to rumours that Mr Kerry apologised to Iran.
The same Iranian state outlet that produced the sailor’s interview had previously released footage that appeared to show when the sailors were detained aboard their Riverine boats.
The Riverine boats were not part of the carrier strike group, and were on a training mission, the officials said.
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The quick resolution contrasted with previous cases in which British servicemen were held by Iran for considerably longer, in once case nearly two weeks. The U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity made clear that neither had occurred.
