Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Updated at midday
IRAN HAS RELEASED 10 US sailors it had detained in the Gulf, moving within hours to head off a potential crisis as it prepares for the lifting of sanctions.
A dramatic series of events started with the sailors – nine men and a woman – being taken into custody after their two Navy patrol boats drifted into Iranian territory late yesterday.
US and Iranian officials scrambled to defuse the situation, which unfolded as Iran prepares to finally implement a nuclear deal with world powers aimed at ending the Islamic republic’s long international isolation.
After informal talks between Washington and Tehran, a statement from the Guards, describing the sailors as Marines, was read out on state television confirming they were free.
“It was determined that the detained American Marines did not enter Iranian waters intentionally. Following their apology, they have been released to international waters in the Gulf,” it said.
Still images used in the report showed the sailors sitting calmly on Persian rugs. Iran had earlier said they were being well treated.
Pictures of the US boats, which had green-and-black camouflage patterns, were also shown by state television.
‘Not hostile’
Admiral Ali Fadavi, the naval commander of the Guards, said that an investigation established that “this trespassing was not hostile or for spying purposes” and the sailors had entered Iranian territory “due to a broken navigation system”.
US officials had said one or both of the boats had suffered mechanical problems and been taken to Farsi Island, which lies roughly midway between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the Gulf and houses a base of the Guards, which has its own naval units.
Radio contact was lost with the two vessels – which US officials said were riverine patrol boats under 20 metres in length – while they were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain.
American officials did not dispute that the vessels appeared to have been in Iranian territorial waters when they were intercepted.
They also said they had received assurances from Tehran that the crews would be allowed to sail onwards come first light.
Diplomatic relations
Washington and Tehran have no diplomatic relations but US Secretary of State John Kerry called Iranian counterpart Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to discuss the incident.
The two developed a close working relationship during the nuclear talks, which concluded in July with a deal between Iran and the so-called P5+1 powers of the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany.
“Mr Zarif had a strong stance and told Mr Kerry these were our territorial waters and you should apologise,” Fadavi said.
The incident came as President Barack Obama gave his last State of the Union address, undermining any attempt to cite closer relations with Tehran as part of his legacy.
As Kerry arrived at the Capitol to hear Obama’s speech, he had told a CNN reporter the sailors would be freed “very soon”.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Rich people talking about corruption. Climate change with all the private jets. Hunger and poverty while paying 40 euro for a whiskey. Billionaires telling people to tighten their belts while flying in private jet and bringing the nannies. Oh the irony.
We live in a country that have a government for the rich and only the rich,and that has been the case for decades.Time has come to get rid of these people for good.
The more we learn of these guys dishing out the rules but not living by them, the more likely there will be mass civil unrest. What’s brewing around todays world is unfortunately unpleasant… And doesn’t bode well for the future. These guys need to watch scrooged or a Christmas carol.
Or in their case. A Muppets Christmas Carol.
Enda: ‘Now what colour tie shall I wear today’!
I brought my nanny on the train to Dublin once. Grandad said he was glad to get rid of her for the day.
Really wish I could just ignore the nonsense these idiots are spouting but unfortunately they hold the power and the wealth. They make me sick, especially enda the lick arse!
Tough luck if I wasn’t invited?.They’re all a bunch of tossers in expensive suits.
Is bono there?
Bono not rich enough!!! Enda is there on taxpayers money !!!
I thought davos was someone’s gaff in finglas
Seen the humble pilgrim Archbishop returning from the conference 2 years ago. His cash strapped church could only afford to send him Business class on Swiss air!
What’s your point Wayne? or are you just ‘bashing the bishop’.
Strap on
Norman, his church is unable to pay compensation to it’s victims, and the bishop who lives in a 50 room palace & is one of the largest land and property owners wants the government to take action!
Wayne his church is able to pay but our government did a deal with them.
Norman check again, they are about a quarter of a billion short on what they owe under that deal!
But obviously that’s ok, with you
This is mind blowing ignorance on the part of Al Gore.
He said that the earth’s mantle is “several million degrees” at “2 kilometers or so down”and that the “crust of the earth is hot” too.
He said that the Arctic ice would have disappeared by 2014.
His homes use more power than some small nations.
He is a bloviating self-declared genius who has built up a fortune of over $200 million on the back of his involvement in the climate scam.
This is like some episode of Dynasty isn’t it? I’m sure many of them need minders/ nannies… to keep them away from, you know, the poor, the old, the people who work… oh, you people! Hey, where’s Mitt?
al gone still sprouting his man made global warming crap. how many private jets are there yet its the common person using the shower for too long that does all the damage.
all the data presented supporting climate change theory leaves out the correlation between it and solar activity.
however the green market is big business and the right people are making money. if any researcher wants to put out data against man made climate change they will not get funded and ngos/think tanks will go all out to discredit them.
its a con job. the cultural Marxists love it. look into the matter for yourself.
too long to read.
@John Fergus, the fool Gore advises Obama and has made presentations to congress as their adviser and yet will not enter into any debate with scientists who can call his bluff.
Hi John,
Al Gore may be a hypocrite and a bit of a tool, but ‘man-made global warming’ as you like to call it is not ‘crap’.
There’s a tonne of peer-reviewed articles online, but NASA is a good place to start: http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
Happy reading.
Remember, when NOAA and NASA declare “hottest years”, just how poor their surface temperature coverage is. Just 6000 stations in the northern hemisphere, none in much of China or northern Russia or the Arabian Peninsula to mention just a few places and far too many of the 6000 are estimated, either because the stations are closed, or have missing months.RSS recently released the satellite measured global temperature for 2014 and found it is not even close to a new record.
I wonder could anyone with 200k attend?
Imagine winning the Euromillions and telling the lads … ‘Here I’m off to Davos for the week to have the craic with Inda and DOBS … Totes!’
Jeff must have been schooled by CJ
Our green isle is densely populated by us green eyed and immensely jealous moaners….
Is it just the angle of the foto or is our Enda getting a bit of a belly on him? All that rich food and champers……..not everyone is suffering due to the economy…….but 1 in six children in the Republic don’t have enough warm cloths or heat……”let them eat cake”……
Im a business grad; trying to work out why a bishop is there? Economies of Scale, probably…
have your say