USA sailor apologizes in Iran propaganda video

The priority now is “determining … how exactly these sailors found themselves in Iran”.

“If, during the interrogation, we find out that they were on an intelligence gathering mission, we will treat them differently”, a Guards spokesman said.

American officials have said Tehran assured them that the crew and vessels would be returned safely and promptly.

Attributing the boats’s incursion into Iranian waters to a navigation error marked a de-escalation in rhetoric.

The initial reports of the incident also indicated a “failure to have sailors act in accordance with Code of Conduct if taken captive – a very bad day for us”, Harmer.

The lone woman sailor was forced to cover her hair, and the head of Iran’s armed forces boasted that this “should be a lesson for troublemakers in the US Congress”, meaning those who want new sanctions for Tehran’s illegal ballistic-missile program.

Speaking on CBS This Morning, Vice President Joe Biden insisted the U.S. doesn’t have to apologize for a problem that the boat had, and Secretary of State John Kerry insisted the USA “had nothing to apologize for”.

The incident raised tensions between Iran and the United States, which, along with other world powers, reached a deal past year under which Iran will curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

“The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors’ presence in Iran”, the US statement said.

The vessels were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain and were sailing near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf.

Another senior defense official said no distress call came from the boats. A US official told Fox News that a mechanical problem on at least one of the boats could not be ruled out, but could not explain how both boats were able to get underway in such a short time if one did have a propulsion issue, which would have caused it to stop running and drift into Iranian territorial waters.

Charlie Rose: Should we apologize to the Iranians?

Toner said Kerry did make a forceful case for the release of American detainees in every meeting with the Iranians.

Otherwise, “they probably would have been kept a few more days”, Hertling said.

The footage, televised on Iranian TV, also reveals the sailors wearing combat clothing and no shoes as they sit on a carpet inside an unknown room enjoying food.

“I mean, Zarif apparently delivered here, and on these other cases, he either hasn’t delivered or you haven’t made as forceful an argument, and I think you would reject that [notion]”, Lee said. “This is going to improve military-military relationships”.

In March 2007, Iranian forces seized 15 British servicemen in the mouth of a waterway separating Iran and Iraq.

The American sailors were held in an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf after being detained nearby on Tuesday.