 |
| Image: Flickr User - Official U.S. Navy Page |
By Ankit Panda
10 U.S. sailors were detained by the Iranian Navy on Tuesday after entering Iran’s territorial waters.
Ten U.S. Navy sailors are being held by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard their riverine patrol boats drifted into Iranian waters after encountering technical problems. According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Navy boats ran aground on an Iranian island. The U.S. Navy vessels were traveling between Kuwait and Bahrain in the Persian Gulf before they lost contact with the U.S. Navy, according to U.S. Department of Defense spokesman Peter Cook. According to Cook, U.S. officials have been in contact with Iran and “have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry immediately spoke with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif after hearing of the incident. The United States and Iran do not maintain formal diplomatic ties but have increasingly open channels of communication at a high-level following the successful conclusion of a deal to restrict Iran’s nuclear program last July.
According to USNI News, the U.S. Navy operates small riverine boats regularly in the Persian Gulf. Tuesday’s incident reportedly involved the two boats drifting into Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island (mapped below). Farsi Island hosts an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base, perhaps explaining why the U.S. sailors were intercepted and held with little warning. It is unknown at this time if Iranian authorities attempted any communication with the U.S. sailors before taking them into custody. USNI also reports that “Search and rescue teams from the Harry S. Truman Strike group were scrambled to aid the crew but stopped short after the crew was taken by the Iranians.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat