No apologies as Iran releases U.S. Navy sailors

Luke Skywalker · Jan 13, 2016

{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:

Get the news
Log In or Subscribe to skip

3 [h=6]Share This Story![/h]Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about

[h=4]No apologies as Iran releases U.S. Navy sailors[/h]U.S. denies apologizing to Iran after two small U.S. boats briefly crossed into Iranian waters.

{# #}
[h=4]Sent![/h]A link has been sent to your friend's email address.

[h=4]Posted![/h]A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

[h=6]Join the Nation's Conversation[/h]To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs

[h=2]UP NEXT[/h][h=2]03[/h]

Iranian state-run media says all ten detained U.S. Navy sailors have been released. The report included pictures said to be of the sailors. The Pentagon confirmed the report. (Jan. 13) AP

A U.S. Navy boat conducts an exercise in the Arabian Sea on June 12, 2012.(Photo: EPA)

The State Department expressed gratitude to Iran on Wednesday for releasing 10 U.S. sailors briefly detained after their two small boats drifted into Iranian waters but denied apologizing to the controversial Middle Eastern power.
"Absolutely ZERO truth to rumors that @JohnKerry apologized to Iran over Sailors. Nothing to apologize for," State Department spokesman John Kirby tweeted.
Iran's state-run IRNA*reported that the sailors*— nine men and one woman*—*and their boats were detained Tuesday and held at an Iranian military base in the Persian Gulf*before they were returned to international waters and freed.
"The U.S. Marines, who entered Iran's territorial waters yesterday, were released because it has become clear that their entry was not intentional and after they apologized for the move," the Iranian*Revolutionary Guards said in a statement.
Vice President Biden, speaking Wednesday on*CBS This Morning, also said there was no apology.
"When you have a problem with the boat, (do) you apologize the boat had a problem? No," Biden said. "And there was no looking for any apology. This was just standard nautical practice."
Secretary of State John Kerry downplayed the apology controversy at a news conference Wednesday, thanking Iranian authorities for their cooperation.*"I*am appreciative of the quick and appropriate response of Iranian authorities," he said.
Kerry said the sailors were provided blankets and food. He credited the quick resolution to a recent thaw in relations with Iran, highlighted by the nuclear*deal in which the U.S.*and other world powers agreed to lift international sanctions in return for Iran reducing its nuclear program.*Relief from the sanctions could begin as early as this week.
"We can all imagine how this situation might have played out three or four years ago," Kerry said, calling the sailors' release a*"testament*to the role diplomacy plays in keeping our country*safe, secure and strong."
Earlier Wednesday, the Pentagon confirmed the release and said there were no indications the sailors were harmed. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he was pleased the sailors “have departed Iran and are now back in U.S. hands."
USA TODAY
5 flash points between the U.S. and Iran

USA TODAY
Iran detains 2 U.S. Navy boats, 10 sailors in Persian Gulf

The boats*— which were traveling from Kuwait to Bahrain*— drifted*into Iranian coastal waters Tuesday near*Farsi Island after experiencing*mechanical problems, both sides said. Iranian videos and photos show the detained sailors kneeling on the deck of a U.S. flagged boat with their hands on their heads. Another video shows*the Americans sitting on a floor in a room eating.*The female sailor appears to have a brown cloth covering her hair.
Gen. Ali Fadavi, a*naval*commander for the Iranian*Revolutionary Guards, accused the U.S. military of acting in an "unprofessional" manner. He said the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier made provocative "maritime and aerial" moves after the U.S. sailors were seized Tuesday.
The carrier made "some nervous but passive air and naval reactions" that were "controlled powerfully by (Iranian Revolutionary Guards) naval forces who returned security to the region," according to the Guard's statement.?
The thaw in U.S.-Iranian relations hasn't*been entirely smooth. The U.S. military released a video Saturday showing what it says is an Iranian military vessel firing several unguided rockets near, but not at, the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, other warships and commercial craft.
Those images, from Dec. 26 in the Strait of Hormuz, show what appears to be an Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel firing rockets from about 1,500 yards, or less than a mile.
USA TODAY
Video shows Iranian rockets launched near U.S. carrier

Iran’s aggression took center stage Wednesday at the Supreme Court in Washington. The justices heard arguments that hundreds of victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism and surviving family members should win access to more than $2 billion in frozen assets of Iran's central bank.
Among them are relatives of 173 of the 241 servicemen killed in the 1983 bombing of a Marine Corps barracks in Beirut. It was carried out by the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, but federal courts in the United States held Iran responsible. Now the high court must decide if Congress overstepped its bounds by passing a law specifically designed to resolve the standoff over the frozen assets.
Contributing: Richard Wolf
0) { %> 0) { %>
0) { %>

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed

No apologies as Iran releases U.S. Navy sailors

Luke Skywalker

Super Moderator