Ten Americans sailors are in Iranian custody after two USA naval crafts briefly entered Iranian territorial waters. More information about the Iranian seizure of two U.S. Navy boats will be provided as it becomes available.
Advertisement
Screenshot/CNNJake Tapper and Josh Earnest.CNN host Jake Tapper confronted White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest over his characterization of Iran’s detainment of 10 US sailors aboard two US Navy ships in the Persian Gulf.
The vessels, known as Riverine Command Boats, are small and agile and often carry special operations forces into smaller bodies of water.
Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN’s Dana Bash that he expected the sailors to be released “very soon” but would not be more specific.
Despite 10 American sailors being in Iranian custody, President Barack Obama stuck to his State of the Union script Tuesday night and made no mention of the incident, instead touting his nuclear deal with Tehran.
“We subsequently have been in contact with Iranian authorities who have informed us of the safety and well-being of our personnel”, the USA official said.
White House Communications Director Jen Psaki said that the president has “no plans” to address Iran detaining 10 American sailors in the State of the Union, the president will “absolutely” tout the deal as an accomplishment, and cancelling the nuclear deal if Iran refuses to release the sailors “would not be aligned with what we want and what we want to see with the nuclear deal” on Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room”.
But U.S. officials have been assured by Tehran that the crew and the vessels will be returned safely and promptly.
The craft were sailing between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. Navy “lost contact” with them, according to a defense official. Within days, Iran is scheduled to formally implement the terms of a nuclear deal, brokered by the Obama administration, which would free up $100 million in frozen Iranian assets in exchange for Iran shuttering its nuclear program.
In a statement, Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed it seized the boats and said the sailors were safe and well. “Perhaps that even means a delay to the start of the State of the Union tonight to talk to talk about exactly what happened”. Further, the agency claimed to have seized Global Positioning System devices from the boats, in order to “prove that the American ships where “snooping” around in Iranian waters”. It’s unclear how they may have veered off course or if they were forced to do so by the Iranians.
Earnest: I can tell you that U.S. officials have been in touch with the Iranians about this situation.
Advertisement
In 2004, three British patrol boats were boarded and seized by Iranian security forces in the Shatt al Arab waterway which divides Iraq and Iran. And we’ve been pretty clear about the fact that Iran is going to be subject to additional sanctions because of the tests they conducted at the end of previous year. This is the second provocative message by Iran, which fired rockets near a U.S. Navy carrier group last week.
