The release of the ten U.S. sailors held captive in Iran was a swift success on Wednesday. The news comes as a great relief, as the rattling incident was a big worry to the landmark nuclear accord expected to be implemented between the world powers and Tehran.
The release of the sailors occurred after a successful determining factor by the Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) that proved the innocence of the sailors’ presence in their waters. Their detention was on Tuesday amid two U.S. Navy patrol boats.A broken navigation system was the main contributing factor towards the detention of the U.S. sailors as attested by Ali Fadavi, the IRGC Rear Admiral.
The apologetic reports by Washington were later rejected by the U.S. Vice President Joe Biden as he publicly refuted to the submitted apology claims, since there were no reasonable grounds for an apology. CBS“This Morning,”hosted by Biden, took the coverage.
The Pentagon attested that the sailors underwent no harm during their detention in Iran. An investigation is soon to be launched by the Navy in order to understand the circumstances that led to the incident.
AU.S. Navy aircraft took the sailors ashore as some sailors navigated to their intended destination: Bahrain.The release and appreciation of the sailors was warmly welcomed by the U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter. He also saluted the diplomatic engagement of the Secretary of State John Kerry that made the peaceful process swift.
The cooperation of Iran towards the release of the sailors was also appreciated. Several talks were held between the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the U.S. Secretary of State towards hastening the sailors’ release. Zarif spoke of dialogue on the Twitter social media during the mediation.
The footage behind the arrest scene was released by the Iranian state television broadcast of the IRGC fast boats surrounding the two U.S. vessels as the sailors positioned themselves for a peaceful submission to the Iranian authorities. The confiscation of their ammunition and weapons was also broadcast as food and nourishment were also at their disposal. The inspection of the sailors’ passports was a priority, too.
The incident added tension to the deal between the U.S. and Iran towards curbing its nuclear activities, as conservatives in both nations continue to criticize the deal.
NUCLEAR DEAL
Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, the armed forces chief in Iran, concluded that the action was a demonstration of Iranian strength against the U.S. Congress “troublemakers” after speculated pressure on Iran prior to the nuclear deal.
Donald Trump, Republican front runner in the U.S. presidential campaign rally, related to the matter by accusing President Barack Obama of his foreign policy weaknesses and criticized the sailors’ detention.
The lack of clarity on the matter is an opinionated approach by a U.S. senior defense official, as a full debrief of the sailors is still awaiting protocol.An earlier allegation by the Iranian guards is that the U.S.ships were in Iranian waters intentionally, and an apology was demanded of Washington. The suspected pursuit is based on Tehran’s regime change.
The operation of the Iranian guards is on naval and land units as opposed to the regular armed forces. The occasional seizing of British servicemen in 2004 and 2007 is said to have also been undertaken by the Iranian guards, but their release was peaceful after some detention period. In contrast, the release of the British sailors came after an apology from its government, but London is still in denial of the claims.
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