Iran ‘releases’ 10 US Navy sailors held in Persian Gulf

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said earlier the group had been released after the us apologized for the intrusion into its territory and gave assurances it would not happen again.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter welcomed the sailors’ release.

U.S. Navy sailors were detained in Iran on Tuesday when they accidentally drifted into Iranian seas.

Global Positioning System devices aboard the boats enabled the Navy to determine, after the fact, that they were in Iranian waters, but the Navy was not immediately sure whether the crew members were safe or had gone overboard.

‘Our technical investigations showed the two US Navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters inadvertently, ‘ the IRGC said in a statement carried by state television.

In 2007, 15 British marines were arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy, accused by Iran of trespassing on Iranian waters.

On Thursday, Carter said the sailors apparently did not radio in to tell USA commanders they were off-course before encountering the Iranians.

Despite its apparent non-seriousness, anti-Iran hawks in the US were quick to paint a picture of the incident as an Iranian provocation, if not an outright hostile act.

USA officials said there was no government apology to Iran.

Screen grabs from video broadcast by Iran’s state broadcaster purport to show 10 American sailors being detained by Iranian authorities in the Persian Gulf, Jan. 12, 2016.

The sailors later were transferred ashore by U.S. Navy aircraft, the news release said, and other sailors took charge of the boats and continued transiting toward Bahrain.

“Clearly this staged video exhibits a Sailor making an apology in an unknown context as an effort to defuse a tense situation and protect his crew”, an official at U.S. Central Command said. The sailors were later released.

He said the sailors had not been mistreated. Ten sailors were held overnight before being released back to the United States. There were also images of American passports being inspected.

The incident in the Gulf came just days away from the expected final implementation of Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers led by the USA, an accord that will see sanctions on the Islamic republic lifted.