Iran holds 10 U.S. sailors but pledges to release them soon
The crews of two small U.S. Navy vessels being held by Iran will be released early Wednesday morning Gulf time, defense officials have told multiple news sources, Voice of America reports. The 10 crew members — nine men and one woman — were traveling in the Persian Gulf between Kuwait and Bahrain when U.S. controllers lost contact with them. "There may have been mechanical failure on one of the vessels, but it is unclear at this time," a defense official told VOA. "My assumption is that they were in Iranian territorial waters when they were detained." U.S. officials said the incident happened in the Persian Gulf near Farsi Island, located about halfway between the gulf coast of Saudi Arabia and the Iranian mainland. A senior administration official said Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by telephone at midday Tuesday with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, shortly after the incident unfolded. But VOA's Persian service said that the Iranian news service, the Fars news agency, was reporting that the crew members had been "arrested." U.S. officials said the incident happened in the Persian Gulf near Farsi Island, located about halfway between the gulf coast of Saudi Arabia and the Iranian mainland.
