Tuesday, the U.S. experienced yet another provocation from Iran who seized two U.S. Navy boats carrying ten U.S. sailors. Iran promised to return everyone and everything shortly. So, yay?
Remind me again why we gave them buttloads of cash and just about everything else they wanted?
Iranian reports tell a different story:
According to the Associated Press:
The crew of two small Navy craft are being held by Iran, but American officials have received assurances from Tehran that the crew and vessels will be returned safely and promptly. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told The Associated Press that the boats were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them. “We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly,” Cook said. U.S. officials said that the incident happened near Farsi Island, situated in the middle of the Persian Gulf. They say it stemmed from some type of mechanical trouble with one of the boats, causing them to run aground. The troops were picked up by Iran. Secretary of State John Kerry, who has forged a personal relationship with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif through three years of nuclear negotiations, called Zarif immediately on learning of the incident, according to a senior U.S. official. Kerry “personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome,” the official said. Kerry learned of the incident around 12:30 p.m. EST as he and Defense Secretary Ash Carter were meeting their Filipino counterparts at the State Department, the official said.
Needless to say, given that the President’s annual State of the Union address is mere hours away, the timing is more than a little suspect:
Late last month, Iran launched a test rocket near U.S. and French military vessels and commercial ships in the Persian Gulf, according to Fox News. Video footage of that test rocket was released Saturday.
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