PHOTO: US Navy personnel during their brief detention by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Tuesday-Wednesday


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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have claimed a victory over the US, following the brief detention of 10 US Navy personnel and their two boats.

The sailors were seized on Tuesday afternoon in Iranian waters, near Farsi Island and a Guards base, after one of the boats had technical problems. The nine men and one woman were questioned by the Guards, who said they had to determine if the vessels were on an intelligence-gathering mission.

US Secretary of State John Kerry immediately conferred with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking five times by telephone and reportedly saying, “We can make this into what will be a good story for both of us”. Any crisis was averted on Wednesday morning as the Guards released the sailors and the boats. The release ensured that implementation of the July 2015 nuclear deal — and thus the start of the removal of US and European sanctions on Iran — will be announced this weekend.

See Iran Audio Analysis: Explaining the Detention — and Release — of the US Sailors
Iran Developing: Revolutionary Guards Free US Sailors After 2 Boats Seized

However, the Guards — challenging both foreign enemies and domestic rivals — also proclaimed their triumph over the American foe. They asserted that the Obama Administration had apologized to the Islamic Republic and had promised that the incident would not be repeated.

The Guards naval commander, Admiral Ali Fadavi, added that his forces had driven away a US aircraft carrier and helicopters who had approached during the seizure of the two boats:

The Americans are certain that they will not win in any potential battles in the Persian Gulf and Hormuz Strait with Iran. The result of that battle is the annihilation and sinking of their battleships.

While in those 40 minutes, it was clear that the Americans were under psychological pressure to the extent that they did not behave in a manner expected from a professional and responsible force.

To drive home the point, the Guards released photographs and video, shown on State TV, of the moment of detention of the US Navy personnel:

US NAVY IRAN DETENTION

US NAVY IRAN DETENTION 2

Video and photographs also showed the treatment of the sailors as they awaited questioning:

One of the sailors said on camera that the incursion into Iran’s waters had been a mistake: “We apologize.”

The head of Iran’s armed forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi, joined in the celebrations of an American defeat:

[This] demonstrated the awareness and precision of the Iranian armed forces regarding American movements in the region. It taught them how vulnerable they are against the Islamic Republic’s mighty forces.


Firouzabadi said
the detention was a message for the US Congress: “They act with closed eyes and far from reality, to the detriment of the American nation….I hope this incident….is a lesson for the stone-throwers.”

Obama Administration: We Didn’t Apologize

A statement by Secretary of State Kerry after the release expressed gratitude to the Iranians for the handling of the case, but he stopped short of an apology.

Vice President Joe Biden insisted on US television:

When you have a problem with the boat, [do] you apologize that the boat had a problem? No.

And there was no looking for any apology. This was just standard nautical practice.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Zarif tried to move attention away from any further US-Iranian tension to the quick resolution of the episode:


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