The U.S. Department of Defense released video showing the type of U.S. Navy boats seized by Iran just hours before President Barack Obama was due to deliver his last State of the Union address.
The U.S. believed that the 10 U.S. sailors being held in Iran will likely not be allowed to leave Tuesday (January 12) night, given the late hour, two U.S. officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Earlier, U.S. defense officials said the sailors – nine men and one woman – had been on two riverine patrol boats when they were taken into Iranian custody. The United States says the ships were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain at the time.
A senior U.S. defense official said the U.S. had lost contact earlier in the day with two small craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. U.S. officials told Reuters it was unclear how or if the boats became disabled.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif assured U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the U.S. sailors would be allowed to continue their journey promptly, another U.S. official said.
While both sides appeared eager not to let the incident escalate further, it came at a delicate time for U.S.-Iranian relations. Iran and six world powers forged a landmark nuclear accord last July.
Formal implementation of the accord could begin in days following steps Iran agreed to take to curb its nuclear activities
The two boats were seized near Farsi Island 2 km (1.2 miles) inside Iranian territorial waters, it said.
Officials from Iran and the United States are negotiating to free the crew, Fars reported. U.S. defense officials said nine men and one woman were aboard the two vessels seized.
News of the incident broke as U.S. President Barack Obama prepared to make his final State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress. He is due to leave office in January 2017.
They were on board two riverine patrol boats, one of the officials said. Riverine boats are 38-foot long, high-speed patrol boats used by the U.S. Navy and Marines to patrol rivers and littoral waters.
It was the latest reported incident between U.S. and Iranian forces in the Gulf in recent weeks.
The U.S. Navy said late last month that an Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel fired unguided rockets on Dec. 26 near warships including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran denied the vessel had done so. (Reuters)
