Iran Seizes 2 US Navy Boats, Crewmen For "Illegally Entering Iranian Waters"
Update: Iran plans to return the crewmen to a ship from the USS Truman carrier strike group on Wednesday.
JUST IN: Plans are in place for Iran to return U.S. sailors to U.S. Navy Wed. morning, gulf time, US defense official says - Reuters
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) January 13, 2016
JUST IN: #Iran to return detained #US sailors to a ship from USS Truman carrier strike group: US defence official
— The Straits Times (@STcom) January 13, 2016
So we suppose we can just call the sailors "State of the Union hostages". The rationale for waiting until tomorrow (i.e. until after Obama's speech): it's safer to carry out the exchange in daylight, according to an unnamed US official.
In short, the Ayatollah has just pulled off one epic publicity stunt.
* * *
Tensions were already running high between Tehran and Washington in the wake of Iran's move to test-fire a next generation surface-to-surface ballistic missile with the range to hit Israel.
And then the IRGC conducted a live-fire rocket test within 1,500 yards of a US aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz.
Now, in a further escalation, Iran has reportedly seized two US Navy ships.
- 2 U.S. NAVY BOATS IN IRANIAN CUSTODY, PENTAGON SAYS: AP
- RHODES SAYS U.S. WORKING ON RETURN OF CREW
- RHODES SAYS U.S. WORKING TO RESOLV
But nobody panic, because Iran has promised to return the crew "promptly" and as CNN adds, according to Iran the sailors are safe:
.@PressSec: "We have received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe" https://t.co/GV9hdWZy3P https://t.co/1ioOtqYVH4
— CNN (@CNN) January 12, 2016
That appears to contradict a statement from Fars which says the US has "repeated" calls for the crew's release.
AP writes that the Pentagon says it briefly lost contact with two small Navy craft in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday but has received assurances from Iran that the crew and vessels will be returned safely and promptly.
Pentagon says these photos show examples of the type of craft involved in Iran incident pic.twitter.com/47ClLilOZK
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) January 12, 2016
"Riverine command boats or RCBs, are actually Swedish CB-90s and are a type of fast attack craft," WaPo notes, adding that "in a number of pictures released by the U.S. Navy, the boats are outfitted with a number of light, medium and heavy weapons including .50 caliber heavy machine guns and GAU-19 miniguns."
"RCB’s can carry contingents of infantry and special operation forces and are often crewed by sailors in Riverine squadrons, known by some as River Rats," WaPo continues. "The riverine force came of age in the Vietnam War in what was then known as the Brown Water Navy. In the 1960s and early 1970s boats such as Patrol Boat, River (from ‘Apocalypse Now’ fame) and Swift Boats were the River Rats vessels of choice."
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook tells The Associated Press that the boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the US lost contact with them.
Cook says, "We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly."
The crews, which total 10 Navy sailors, are being held at Farsi Island, a highly restricted island between Bahrain and Kuwait, where Iran has a naval base. US officials are saying it is unclear how the crew members ended up in Iranian waters, though Secretary of State John Kerry has kept phone contact with Iranian officials in Tehran, urging for a release. A senior official told NBC News the Iranians understand a mistake was made and have agreed to a release to come in hours.
According to AP, an anonymous senior official says Kerry "personally engaged with” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to work out a solution almost immediately upon hearing of the development around 12:30 pm EST.
Josh Earnest, the White House spokesperson, said the sailors will be released "promptly" and " allowed to continue their journey."
The international incident comes on the day President Obama will give his final State of the Union speech of his tenure. Obama's political opponents are capitalizing on the timing, especially since the International Spectator, citing Iran Revolutionary Guard, reports that "seized US sailors will not be released tonight or before State of the Union address."
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) told CNN, "senior members of Barack Obama's administration are apologizing for Iran seizing two US Navy vessels and holding 10 sailors hostage. The White House tonight is a hot bed of cold feet."
Presidential candidates Dr. Ben Carson and Jeb Bush have taken to Twitter to criticize Obama's reaction. Bush called for "no more bargaining" and an immediate return home for the sailors, whereas Carson took a shot at Obama's "preparing to talk about his so called 'accomplishments'" in reference to tonight's national address.
If our sailors aren’t coming home yet, they need to be now. No more bargaining. Obama’s humiliatingly weak Iran policy is exposed again.
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) January 12, 2016
BREAKING: While POTUS is preparing to talk about his so called "accomplishments", 10 of our American sailors are being held by #Iran.
— Dr. Ben Carson (@RealBenCarson) January 12, 2016
This marks the second time in as many weeks that the President's "soft" policy on Iran has come under fire. Following the abovementioned rocket incident GOP lawmakers called for fresh sanctions on Tehran in connection with two ballistic missile launches in October and November. The White House was apparently prepared to announce a new set of measures aimed at around a dozen individuals and companies but at the last minute, the administration backed out. Obama's cold feet came after President Rouhani ordered the defense ministry to accelerate the country's ballistic missile program in the event new sanctions were put in place.
Meanwhile, according to Iran's version of today's events, Fars News agency says US sailors picked up by Revolutionary Guard Corps, from hardline camp who are opposed to the nuclear deal. Fars adds that the sailors were detained for illegally and "intentionally" entering Iranian waters even though they knew the area well. Tehran also contends the US ships were having "technical difficulties."
Fars News says IRGC detained 10 US military personnel in 2 boats for illegally entering Iranian waters in Gulf https://t.co/daqeCflOrM
— Borzou Daragahi (@borzou) January 12, 2016
Fars says US sailors know area, carrying GPS, intentionally entered Iran's territorial waters
— Sobhan Hassanvand (@Hassanvand) January 12, 2016
Fars: Both US boats "illegally" entered 2 km into Iranian waters, and IRGC confirms this info on their GPS record. https://t.co/V266Fsx42h
— FDD's Iran Project (@FDD_Iran) January 12, 2016
Just in: Iran's Fars news agency says 10 US sailors held include one woman
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 12, 2016
#Iran Questions:
- Kuwait to Bahrain is 300 nautical miles. Why were US sailors traveling by small boats? Joy ride? https://t.co/xmRCY6Or36
— Tarek Fatah (@TarekFatah) January 13, 2016
And here is the full Fars statement, google translated:
According to defense Fars News Agency, Iranian Revolutionary Guards 10 US military with two boats illegally entered Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf had been detained.
According to the information received by the Fars news agency every American boat is equipped with 3 machine guns caliber 50 (one in front and two on the sides of the float).
The two vessels illegally entered and patrolled about 2 km deep inside Iranian waters, and the information recorded on their GPS device and is now in the hands of Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The military said among the arrested were 9 men and one woman. They carried heavy weapons in their vessels.
US officials repeated calls for the release of prisoners will continue with Tehran.
So, they are prisoners, and unlike the White House tried to spin it, guests of honor?
Ironically, earlier we asked:
Is Iran going to wait until the end of the SOTU address before returning the 10 sailors?
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 12, 2016
We now have the answer:
BREAKING: Iranian Revolutionary Guards official says seized US sailors will not be released tonight or before State of the Union address.
— The Int'l Spectator (@intlspectator) January 12, 2016
(23 votes)
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http://www.angelfire.com/folk/oldways/norseprayer.html
Get off your knees, northern people.
How is it that the world's most expensive, expansive surveillance state has its navy men captured. It can only by design; the new Pearl Harbor after 9/11 - both of which were 'predicted' by the Project for a New American Century led by zionist filth.
Hmm...Iran patrolling the waters they can see from the shores of...IRAN. Makes sense. What makes no sense is why the USA thinks it needs (or even has the right) to patrol the same waters.
Hey, here's a great idea: bring all those American military assets and personnel back to the shores of...the USA! Wow, problem solved. Stop trying to tell the rest of the planet what to do.
Oh I forgot, we're special, we get to be global bullies.
that's it bud, you've triggered a code red. better check out the window for black helicopters.
No! you don't get it. They need a pretext, they are trying to start something. Let's see how this develops
True. 'they' are the hateful nazionists, the moneychangers who are insolvent and need a war to distract from their insolvency; like an arsonist burns down the place to hide evidence of crime.
TPTB were going to start war directly with Russia until Russia showed them missile technology and radar jamming technology that we do not have. The Russians totally disabled a destroyer to the point where the navy could not even steer the vessel. (source: Paul Craig Roberts) It is why the entire gulf naval fleet left after being there for nearly 2 decades (sitting ducks). Not to mention that Russia and China are joined at the hip and China is the industrial juggernaut of the world.
http://sputniknews.com/military/20150304/1019042643.html#ixzz3omjOH4o2
So whatever plan B is will be what they go with; so I believe it will still get just as nasty from a human carnage perspective, but not in the same direction they had intended; meaning they will come after what they can and that means U.S..
I love my troops, dearly. It is not their fault that money grubbing banksters and weak politiians send them into harm's way, all for naught, all for money.
Mind your tone.
True patriots will not volunteer their services any longer, forcing the administration to reinstitute the draft. When people who don't want a military career are forced from their businesses, homes and families, the electorate in general starts paying a whole lot more attention to what Washington is doing. As far as I'm concerned, patriots are valuable people, they fight for moral reasons and the real truth, not money or to satisfy some elitist's ambitions. Only a fool would put himself in harms way for that.
We are safe in our land, so long as we hold it and the Constitution. Both.
I am very sorry that our troops are used and betrayed, but they will come home to us. I have no doubt about that.
Hopefully, it happens that way.
We do not get out of this without pain. So be it.
The ULTIMATE price was paid during a crucifixion event about 2000 years ago where the most godly dies for the most ungodly, the King of all kings dies for the peasant, the Creator of all died for His creatures, the sinless one for the sinner and the sad reality is most reject the free gift. Humans are fools at best to be sure.
Peace be with us if we make it so, brother/sister xo
We have tolerated killers for too long. This must stop.
I agree about the troops, but it is a shame that the parents can't see the tree through the forest. At the same time, for many, it may be better than where they were, for the military offers an escape for the roughest and most destitute. Bitter sweet in a way and the US Military will be the ONLY way the country could be taken back.
I do believe we are way past the "point of no return" because of the lack of morality that is growing more obscene by almost any relative standard and definitely by the fixed standard given moral lawgiver who will judge all the inhabitants by that standard, for which most will not escape in the eternal state. That is the greatest of all tragedies imo.
Well said. Peace comes when we make it so. That takes courage like a lion minding his family.
Helen of Troy. I think America forgets how men love their girls and boys. Forgets how fierce women can be in defence of their children. That is the greatest danger for career politicians and banksters.
Pro Patricia.
God loves all children. This is our duty too ;-)
The Talmud vs Koran fight in the Middle East ruins us if we let it, and others most horribly.
Peace if we make it so in our lands.
The Straits of Hormuz are a known flash point as a third (+/-) of the world's oil is tankered though it. The nearby seas have been a merry-go-round of competing naval vessels. Wasn't a Chinese Navy ship doing a port of call in Iran recently? Peace is the goal, work for it!
You mean, pro patria.
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori -- it is sweet and distinguished to die for one's county.
That's Virgil, baby!
Imagine the hometown hysteria if Iranian Navy river-boats made the same "mistake" on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico!
lost two riverine boats... which are basically a zodiac on steroids with an armored shell.
9 dudes and a chick lost errrr "CAPTURED"... sucks to be her as I'm sure the Persians will totally not rape or pillage her.
can't wait to see what Putt the Magic Negro does with this snafu.
Don't be stupid. It is a set up for the Internationale.
The Persians won't rape her. The Arabs would.
We need to put our foot down and order them to attack Turkey. Kerry and O'Bummer can deny ever saying it.
Famous last words: mistakes were made...
My brother, my sister. We are being robbed in broad daylight.
'War Is A Racket' (1935) by U.S. Marine General Smedley Butler.
You bring the fuse. I will bring the fire, William, the Hogarth of modern times.
No surrender to lies.
Smedley D. Butler won (2) Congressional Medals of Honor. And was alive to collect each of them. USMC Camp Butler on Okinawa is named for him. We knew all this from our PRAC but for some reason our drill instructors never mentioned War is a Racket. I wonder why now. I am mildly surprised the neocons have not forced a named change - like Camp Clinton or Camp Feinstein ...
Trojan horse perhaps? Seized means closer to the target, no?
Clever comment, but I am still angry that my troops are put in such a predicament.
Just checked Fars at 639 est and no news of story...wtf? Am I missing something? Farsnews, etc...got it saved...not front-page or world...is this real?
Oh those wacky Iranian peace partners of ours...lol...they're just playing a practical joke on Kerry.
What a bunch of cut ups ;-)
SPECOPS gone bad? Probably so.
If the IRNs' Bomb/Drug Dogs come up with something genuinely positive, SWHTF.
They were probably heating up their MREs on the engine manifold and screwed up the motor.....that Spagetti will do that...or was it the Tuna casarole..
I dont understand any part of this story. US sailors are excellent navigators, a nav error is next to impossible. and if these are riverine boats, then the people who operate them know how to direct fire at a host8le craft.
WHO put the muzzle on our guys ... why didnt we just sink the Iranians???
Maybe because we were trespassing and killing innocent men who were protecting their sovereign country would be a fucking horrible and very criminal thing to do?
If the description of the boats is accurate, these are boats used for SEAL teams. The boats were not lost! They were conducting some sort of under cover Op. Hard to say what's going. An Op gone bad or maybe a false flag a la the Gulf of Tonkin. One thing's for sure, special Ops craft do not navigate casually.
Good grief. My dad is x navy. I really hope he doesn't have a coronary over this news. I didn't not think it was possible for him to like Obama any less, but if O politicizes this, it might kill him.
Lemme guess ... the JEWS made them do it
As a matter of fact, they did. The Jews want the US to start a war with Iran and the Jews who control our foreign policy do everything they can to make this happen.
The Jesuits control the "Jews" you speak of, who are not Jews; looking the wrong way.
Links? Decent links? The Catholic Church is a player in the cabal of shit somewhere but in control?
I have always found it interesting that they house, guard and control access to a great deal of the records concerning all of human history. We have a right to that information and yet you have to ask the Vatican permission to enter their vaults and if they are feeling generous they will pull out info for people of their choosing, they leave no one unattended in those vaults and they are like Fort Knox. They were completely closed to the public until 1888 and then they allowed access to some scholars, very minimal access.
Apparently they are massive and they collected books, histories and artifacts from every corner of the globe. The Pope is handed "ownership" of the archives and then passes them on to the next Pope. It is quite likely that if there is a cultural mystery in your culture they have information on it and they bogart it for themselves.
Knowledge is power and ten bucks says if the Vatican ever falls those archives will burn.
PC babe, traitor,
Check out the story of the USS Liberty, and stop being such a schlemiel.
Green hair and lipstick on a pig just makes you look more stupid.
Good thing the Iranians don't shoot like the Turk's...
The US enters every Countries space without concern of breaking international law.
No idea who was misbehaving in this. and nor do other commentators here, but no previous US President except Jimmy Carter would allow US troops to be held by an alsoran country for more than a day.
It doesn't matter whether they were in Iranian waters or not, wherever they were it was not on their own initiative. If you put your guys in harm's way you get them out when it goes wrong. Of course Obama and Hillary tore up that principle in Benghazi.
True, Bazza. We in the West are being played, lied to.
This is the first of many confrontations with Iran. War is the goal.
True, brother/sister. Let's get ready, not die for fools.
All along the watch tower. They can't handle the truth. We can.
People are awakening,this is why they are escalating quickly
True.
bullshit left behind abandoned everywhere, every major and most minor conflict
and usually covered up...by likes of 'johnny wet start' on Nam pow's
you don't live in the world you think you live in
or maybe you justr stupid