Iran detains 10 U.S. sailors aboard two Navy boats in Gulf

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran detained 10 U.S. sailors aboard two U.S. Navy boats in the Gulf on Tuesday, Jan 12, in an incident that rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord with Tehran, Reuters reports.

Late on Tuesday a U.S. defense official said plans were in place for Iran to return the sailors to a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters early on Wednesday.

Both U.S. and Iranian officials described the sailors, whose boats may have inadvertently drifted into Iranian waters, as safe and well-treated. U.S. defense officials said nine men and one woman were aboard the two vessels seized.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN that "We have received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe and that they will be allowed to continue their journey promptly."

Official Iranian news outlets confirmed the detention of the 10 Americans. "The Revolutionary Guards naval forces seized the American boats two kilometers inside Iranian territorial waters while they were snooping around," Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said.

Officials from Iran and the United States were negotiating to free the crew, Fars reported.

News of the incident came hours before President Barack Obama made his final State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress prior to leaving office in January 2017.

Obama did not mention the crew's detention in the hour-long speech, but he did tout the nuclear deal with Tehran, saying "the world has avoided another war."

The White House expects the situation to be resolved quickly.

Washington and Tehran, which have pursued a partial detente in recent years, both appeared eager not to let the boat incident escalate further.