1st LD: 10 U.S. Navy sailors detained by Iran: report
Xinhua, January 13, 2016 Adjust font size:
Ten U.S. sailors were detained Tuesday on the Farsi island in the Gulf by Iran's military which seized two U.S. Navy boats, U.S. media reported.
It was unclear whether the American sailors who were aboard one of the small riverine boats had strayed into Iranian territorial waters before they were captured, the NBC News quoted senior Pentagon officials as saying.
The sailors were reportedly on a training mission around noon when their boat experienced "mechanical difficulty" and drifted into Iranian-claimed waters and were seized by Iranian Coast Guard.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been on the phone with Iranian officials in an attempt to gain the release of the American sailors.
One senior U.S. official was quoted as saying that the Iranians understood that it was a mistake and had agreed to release the Americans in international waters within hours, the report added. Endit