Pentagon: 2 US Navy Boats Held by Iran but Will Be Returned

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

The Pentagon says it briefly lost contact with two small Navy craft in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday but has received assurances from Iran that the crew and vessels will be returned safely and promptly.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook tells The Associated Press that the boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the US lost contact with them.

Cook says, "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly."


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/pentagon-us-navy-boats-held-iran-returned-36248719

---

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Jan 12, 2016, 4:04 PM ET

Short article. No more at link.

[philosslayer]

1. Sounds like much ado about nothing

The boats likely wandered where they shouldn't have wandered.

[cstanleytech]

12. Maybe, maybe not. The island in question while currently controlled by Iran is still well outside

the 20 mile limit from the coast.

[happyslug]

21. The rule is 12 miles from ANY coastline, including this island's coastline

Unless it is on a traditional shipping route, then ships have the right to use it. Traditional shiping routes are outside the old three mile limit. Thus did these boats come within 12 miles of this island? And if they did was it between the island and the main Iranian coast? Sounds like the boats did go into Iranian waters. Probably within the 12 mile limit on the side of the island Opposite Iran.

Remember the Persian Gulf is NOT that wide, it is a narrow bathtub.

[cstanleytech]

22. Considering the islands location I suspect that alot of shipping goes by it often

but anyway like I said its going to depend on exactly what happened.

[MowCowWhoHow III]

2. SOTU coincidence?

[TwilightGardener]

3. Waitwhut?

[MowCowWhoHow III]

4. Update - Senior U.S. military official: up to 10 U.S. Navy sailors held

Update - Senior U.S. military official: up to 10 U.S. Navy sailors held at Iranian Revolutionary Guard base on Farsi Island in Persian Gulf
https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak/status/687020619121192961

Presumably they also have the Riverine(s) they were in.

[47of74]

5. Quick! Teabaggers! Tell us how that is wrong!

Come on teabaggers! Tell us all how that is a bad thing!

[bigdarryl]

6. Hate to say this but it is BAD

[6chars]

10. Why is it bad?

Two of our boats have mechanical problem and our ally helps out? This is bad?

[Elmergantry]

14. IRAN

its spelled I-R-A-N.....

NOT considered an "ally"...

[7962]

17. You think its 1975?

[sarisataka]

20. If Iran is an ally

I'd hate to see what you think is an enemy...

[Bad Dog]

7. They'll be given some shitty suits and a shitty giftbag.

And one of them might get told he looks like Mr. Bean before they nick his ipad. That's what those monsters did to our sailors.

[6chars]

23. This video shows them being treated just fine (start @1:40)

[6chars]

26. Our boys (and girl) relaxing.

Hey, is she wearing standard issue headgear?

[JCMach1]

8. frakking CNN has Tom Cotton (R,Dipshite) on the last 30 min.

WTF

[Purveyor]

9. Pentagon: 2 U.S. Navy Boats With 10 American Sailors Held by Iran Military

Iranian military forces seized two U.S. Navy boats Tuesday and are detaining them on Iran's Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf, senior U.S. officials told NBC News.

The officials said it's unclear whether the 10 American sailors aboard two small riverine vessels had strayed into Iranian territorial waters before they were captured.

The sailors were on a training mission around noon ET when one of the boats may have experienced mechanical failure and drifted into Iranian-claimed waters, officials added. Iran's coast guard took them into custody, although the crew has been described as being safe.

Following reports of the incident, Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Iranian officials in Tehran by phone, attempting to secure the sailors' release.

One senior official told NBC News the Iranians understand it was a mistake and have agreed to release the Americans in international waters within hours.

more...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pentagon-2-u-s-navy-boats-held-iran-military-n495031

[MowCowWhoHow III]

13. U.S. officials say 10 U.S. Navy sailors being held by #Iran are unlikely to be released overnight

Update - Reuters: U.S. officials say 10 U.S. Navy sailors being held by #Iran are unlikely to be released overnight
https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak/status/687045071657680896

[MowCowWhoHow III]

15. Two U.S. Navy boats in Iranian custody but crew will be returned ‘promptly’

Two U.S. Navy boats in Iranian custody but crew will be returned ‘promptly’

Two small U.S. Navy vessels appear to be in Iranian custody, but their crews will be released promptly, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

However, FARS, an Iranian news agency, said that the ten sailors had been arrested and were suspected of “snooping.”

Two U.S. naval craft were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain when they disappeared from the Navy’s scopes. The incident marks the latest run-in between Iranian and U.S. crews. In late December, Iranian gunboats fired unguided missiles almost 1,000 yards away from the aircraft carrier the USS Harry S. Truman.

According to a senior administration official who declined to be identified, Secretary of State John F. Kerry spoke about the situation to a senior Iranian official but would not say if it was his counterpart, foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/01/12/iran-captures-two-u-s-navy-boats-but-will-return-crew-soon/

[6chars]

16. Nothing to indicate hostility on the part of Iran; they are hosting sailors overnight for safety

The semi-official Fars news agency in Iran said that members of the hardline Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps had confiscated GPS equipment from the boats, according to The New York Times. The news agency said the data from the equipment would "prove that the American ships [were] 'snooping' around in Iranian waters."

A senior US administration official told CNN's Jim Sciutto that there's nothing to indicate anything hostile on the part of Iran. Administration officials also reportedly said that releasing the sailors at night would be "unsafe."

Another US official, however, told CNN's Barbara Starr that the IRGC confiscated the sailors' communications equipment, which is hostile.

http://www.businessinsider.com/two-us-navy-boats-reportedly-in-iranian-custody-2016-1

looks like they will bring our people safely to a transfer point so they don't have to wait while Iran fixes the ships for us. Talk about service!

[Marrah_G]

18. I hope this is resolved quickly

[daleo]

19. If the U.S. and Iran are playing nicey-nice in this one

That's got to have the Saudis worrying about what it portends.

[bemildred]

24. Iran releases US sailors in international waters after brief detention

Iran released ten U.S. sailors Wednesday after holding them overnight, bringing a swift end to an incident that had rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had freed the sailors after determining they had entered Iranian territorial waters by mistake. The sailors had been detained aboard two U.S. Navy patrol boats in the Gulf on Tuesday.

“Our technical investigations showed the two U.S. Navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters inadvertently,” the IRGC said in a statement carried by state television. “They were released in international waters after they apologized,” it added.

Confirming the sailors' safe release, the Pentagon said there were no indications they were harmed while in Iranian custody.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2016/1/13/iran-releases-10-us-sailors-us-officials-expect-prompt-return1.html

[bemildred]

25. U.S. Sailors Freed by Iran, But Their Humiliation Persists

But not everybody wants to let it go ...

There is something viscerally humiliating to many Americans about seeing those U.S. sailors in Iranian captivity. They’re on their knees, with their hands meekly clasped behind their heads, awaiting their captors’ next orders. What’s clear is that while the Iranians apparently were careful not to hurt the sailors, they knew precisely what to do to humiliate them—and the nation they represent.

The videoed images of the sailors released by Tehran showed the world who was in charge of the nine men and one woman for 16 hours. But absent evidence of cruelty, the Obama Administration suggested that the sailors had been treated well and released quickly. While the videos were demeaning, and likely violated the Geneva Conventions, the main emotion they seemed to raise among Americans was your typical patriotic revulsion.

http://time.com/4180372/u-s-sailors-freed-by-iran-but-their-humiliation-persists/

[Nihil]

27. Aw ... diddums ...

Just be grateful that you still have a sensible President who didn't use the
navigational incompetence of the sailors to trigger yet another false-flag war.

Nobody was hurt. Nobody was killed.

Let's hope the "accidental incursion" isn't repeated when you have one of the
more war-like individuals in the Oval Office.

[bemildred]

28. Let's give Iran some credit too.

A very modest propaganda exploitation of the "accident". Having diplomats in the habit of talking to each other can be so useful at times.

[Nihil]

29. Oh definitely - I hadn't intended to suggest otherwise: a dialogue requires two parties.

(And - although I hope you already realised it - the "diddums" comment was
aimed at the writers of the time.com article and their like-minded readers, not you!)

[bemildred]

30. Yes, I know.

But having watched the Iran hostage crisis way back when, I was struck by the contrast in their behavior now, and several commentators I have read today have remarked on it too.

The US media is still catching up, but they do that lot these days, I've mostly stopped reading them when it comes to international affairs.