Iran 'Interrogating' US Sailors Detained In Gulf

Iran accuses them of straying into its waters and warns they will be treated "differently" if found to be gathering intelligence.

 

 Iran has said it is interrogating 10 US Navy sailors after their two small vessels apparently strayed into Iranian waters.

The Pentagon said they lost contact with the patrol boats as they moved through the Gulf between Kuwait and Bahrain on Tuesday.

Nine men and one woman were detained by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces, US officials said.

The US sailors are being held on Farsi Island in the Gulf

There were reports at least one of the US vessels drifted after developing mechanical problems.

General Ali Fadavi, Navy chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, confirmed on state television on Wednesday a "broken" navigation system caused the boats to stray into Iranian waters, adding the issue was being "resolved".

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He said investigations had found "this trespassing was not hostile or for spying purposes".

However, earlier, he said Tehran had asked Washington for an apology for "violating" Iran's territorial waters.

He said a US aircraft carrier in the Gulf had acted "provocatively and unprofessionally" for 40 minutes by carrying out air and sea manoeuvres after Iran arrested the American sailors.

On Tuesday night White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Washington had "received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe and that they will be allowed to continue their journey promptly".

But a statement from Iran's Revolutionary Guard forces said: "What others say about sailors' prompt release is their speculation and we don't confirm or deny it."

Spokesman Ramazan Sharif added: "If, during the interrogation, we find out that they were on an intelligence gathering mission, we will treat them differently."

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said Iranian Revolutionary Guards had detained the vessels after they "illegally" entered Iranian territorial waters in the Gulf.

The crews were on riverine patrol boats, which are high-speed vessels used by the US Navy and Marines to patrol rivers and littoral waters.

The US sailors are being held on Farsi Island in the Gulf, where the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have a base.

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The White House said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the situation.

It came just hours before he delivered his final State of the Union address to Congress.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif upon learning of the incident.

The tension has rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of July's landmark nuclear accord with Tehran, which Mr Kerry helped broker with Mr Zarif.

Sky's US Correspondent Amanda Walker said: "The nuclear deal is very significant in this and has been years of very meticulous negotiations. It means Iran will freeze its nuclear assets in return for sanctions being lifted."

Tuesday's incident follows Iran's launch of a test rocket near US warships passing through the Strait of Hormuz in late December.

In March 2007, Iranian forces seized 15 British servicemen in the mouth of a waterway separating Iran and Iraq.

They were held for 13 days, in a diplomatic crisis that at the time bordered on farce.