Iran releases United States navy sailors detained in territorial waters

While the nine men and one woman sailor were not physically mistreated during their captivity, the latest news from the defense official is the first indication that they were under some kind of direct mental duress from the Iranians.

General Lloyd Austin, who leads the USA military’s Central Command, said: “We’ll know a lot more after we’ve finished debriefing our sailors”.

On Wednesday, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Public Relations said in a statement that the sailors were freed following an apology and after technical and operational investigations indicated that the intrusion into Iranian territorial waters was “unintentional”.

A new polemic video published by the Iranian State television appears to show some American sailors that were arrested on Tuesday.

“It was a mistake, it was our fault, and we apologise for our mistake”, an unidentified sailor told an Iranian interviewer with the state-controlled TV station Tasmin.

Express.co.uk has contacted the Iranian and American authorities for comment.

‘They were released in worldwide waters after they apologised’.

Nash said he believes Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the decision to release the footage because the group detaining the sailors was the Iranian Republican Guard Navy, which reports directly to Khamenei.

A Navy commander who was taken into custody by Iran with 10 other American sailors on Tuesday – and who appeared on a video apologizing for straying into Iranian waters – has a link to Troy. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a former U.S. Marine and veteran of the Iraq war, said it would be “naive” to think they didn’t. All 10 sailors were released unharmed today after being held overnight on an Iranian island. There were “robust bridge-to-bridge communications” during that time, but there was no trouble, the official said.

The sailors were released on Wednesday. They also said they had received assurances from Tehran that the crews would be allowed to sail onwards come first light. Mr Kerry credited the quick resolution to the “critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country secure and strong”. He then added, “We did not mean to go into Iranian territorial water”.

Fadavi said earlier that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a phone call the U.S. should apologize for the incident.