US military confirms release of 10 Navy sailors held by Iran

The IRGC Navy’s Public Relations Department, in a statement released on January 13, said that the USA navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf illegally.

The US has apologised to Iran after 10 American sailors were arrested for entering Iranian waters, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards naval forces has said.

“The Sailors departed Farsi Island at at 8:43 a.m. GMT, aboard the two Riverine Command Boats (RCB) that they had been operating when they lost contact with the U.S. Navy”.

Iran detained the sailors who were aboard two us navy boats in the Gulf in an incident that rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord.

The news comes less than a month after USA officials accused Iran of launching a “highly provocative” rocket test near US boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz. They say it stemmed from some type of mechanical trouble with one of the boats, causing them to run aground.

Sharif said Iran was questioning the sailors and would take “necessary measures” if it is determined they were in Iranian waters to gather intelligence.

Navy officials confirmed Wednesday morning that there were “no indications that the sailors were harmed during their brief detention”.

Plans were in place for Iran to return the crew to a US Navy vessel in worldwide waters early on Wednesday, during daylight hours when it would be safer, a US defence official told the Associated Press.

Fadavi earlier had said that the sailors demonstrated “unprofessional” behavior and that Iran was demanding an apology from Kerry, but backed off that allegation in his latest remarks.

“Naturally in territorial waters of the country any naval craft should announce their presence beforehand, especially if they are military”, Fadavi said.

“Mr Zarif had a strong stance and told Mr (John) Kerry these were our territorial waters and you should apologise”, he said, referring to the US Secretary of State.

“When our Navy ships have problems, we don’t call Iran”, Gohmert blustered, “we call the rest of the Navy, we can call the Air Force, the Army, the Marines, the Coast Guard”.

One of the 10 sailors is a woman.

The incident sparked a diplomatic crisis just before President Obama’s last State of the Union address Tuesday evening.