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Iran's IRGC says investigating illegal entry of 2 seized U.S. boats into Persian Gulf

Xinhua, January 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday it is investigating the illegal entry of two seized U.S. boats into Iran's waters.

In a statement released by the public relations of IRGC, it said that two U.S. navy boats with 10 crew aboard, nine men and one woman, entered Iran's territorial waters on Tuesday at 16:30 local time (13:00 GMT).

The IRGC naval forces sent them a warning message and then they were detained and sent to Iran's Farsi island.

The IRGC spokesman Ramazan Sharif also said that the IRGC is carrying out investigations about the boats' illegal entry into Iran's waters. "If their entry is for intelligence and other irrelevant activities, required measures will be adopted for sure."

Earlier Western reports said that Iranian military forces seized two U.S. Navy boats on Tuesday and detained 10 sailors aboard in the Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf.

"The 10 American sailors aboard the small riverine vessels were on a training mission around noon ET when one of the boats may have experienced mechanical failure and drifted into Iranian-claimed waters, officials said. Iran's coast guard took them into custody," senior U.S. officials was quoted as saying by the NBC. Endit