Iran releases 10 detained US sailors who strayed into country’s waters

TEHRAN – Iran has freed 10 U.S. sailors seized on two U.S. Navy vessels in Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf after determining that the encroachment was due to a failure of navigational systems.

In a statement, the U.S. Navy confirmed the release of the sailors and the two boats from Iranian custody.

“There are no indications that the sailors were harmed during their brief detention,” the Navy said in a statement from the commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

The sailors departed Iran’s Farsi Island, where they had been held, on Wednesday morning aboard the same Riverine Command Boats that they had been operating when they “lost contact” with the U.S. Navy, the statement said.

The sailors were later transferred ashore by U.S. Navy aircraft, the statement said, while other sailors took charge of the two boats en route to Bahrain. A naval investigation into the incident is underway.

In a separate statement, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter applauded the “timely” resolution of the incident.

“I am pleased that 10 U.S. Navy sailors have departed Iran and are now back in U.S. hands,” Carter said. “I want to personally thank Secretary of State John Kerry for his diplomatic engagement with Iran to secure our sailors’ swift return. Around the world, the U.S. Navy routinely provides assistance to foreign sailors in distress, and we appreciate the timely way in which this situation was resolved.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Iranian state television and Press TV, Iran’s English language service, announced the release in breaking news headlines on television screens.

The semi-official Fars News Agency reported that the sailors and their boats were released in international waters after an investigation by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

“After considering the technical and operations logs of the boats, we found out they were unintentionally in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s waters,” a corps spokesman was quoted as saying by Fars News. “And after their apologies the two boats were released in international waters.”

Press TV showed still photographs of what it said were some of the captive sailors lounging in a room with pillows and carpets, apparently before their release. All wore military fatigues.

Iranian state television said the 10 sailors had “apologized for trespassing” in Iranian territorial waters.

A “broken” navigation system led to the encroachment, Press TV reported.

The U.S. sailors pledged “not to repeat the same mistake,” the Iranian guards said in a statement carried on Iranian media.

Earlier, Iranian authorities had hinted that the issue was close to being settled with the likely release of the 10 sailors, nine men and one woman, according to Iranian officials.

State television had quoted Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, head of the guard corps naval operations, saying that the U.S. boats’ entry into Iranian waters “was the result of faults in navigation systems and the issue is getting resolved.”

The reported release would appear to avert a major confrontation in U.S.-Iranian relations at a sensitive moment, when key aspects of the nuclear accord hammered out last year between Tehran and world powers are about the be implemented. Iranian officials had vowed to use “Islamic compassion” in determining the fate of the sailors.