State Dept denies Iran apology
WASHINGTON: US officials thanked Iran on Wednesday for releasing 10 US sailors briefly detained after their two small boats strayed into Iranian waters but denied apologising for the incident to the controversial Middle Eastern power.
“Absolutely zero truth to rumours that [the US] apologised to Iran over sailors. Nothing to apologise for,” State Department spokesman John Kirby tweeted.
Iran detained the sailors — nine men and one woman — and their boats at an Iranian military base in the Persian Gulf before they were returned to international waters and freed, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Iranian TV released video purportedly showing one of the sailors saying “we apologise for our mistake” and thanking the Iranians for their hospitality. A US defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the video appeared authentic but staged.
The sailor may have been coerced to talk or was attempting to protect his crew, the official said, adding it seemed to be an effort by Iranians to exploit the incident for propaganda purposes.
Still, t he video raises questions about how service members should conduct themselves if detained, even though the incident did not occur in a combat environment.
Military personnel captured during wars are supposed to follow a code of conduct that dictates prisoners should not accept favours from the enemy and should resist and attempt to escape.
“These are not binding and aspirational guidelines,” said Rachel VanLandingham, an associate professor at Southwestern Law School and former air force judge advocate-general. “There’s no regulation saying someone couldn’t say, ‘I’m sorry’.”
“Iran is not an ‘enemy’ in the legal lawof-war sense, and it sounds like our naval personnel exercised common sense by apologising for their mistake,” she added.
Another dramatic video from Iranian TV appeared to show the sailors kneeling on a boat, hands on their heads, and later eating while sitting on the floor of a room. The woman is shown with a brown cloth covering her head. Numerous guns and ammunition are also shown.
Secretary of State John Kerry downplayed the apology squabble at a news conference on Wednesday, thanking Iranian authorities for their cooperation. “I am appreciative of the quick and appropriate response of Iranian authorities,” he said.
Mr Kerry said the sailors were provided with blankets and food. He credited the quick resolution to a thaw in relations with Iran, highlighted by the nuclear deal in which the US and other world powers agreed to lift international sanctions in return for Iran reducing its nuclear programme. Relief from the sanctions could begin as early as this week.
Mr Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who developed a close personal relationship through the lengthy nuclear negotiations, spoke at least five times as the incident unfolded on Tuesday, including once after President Obama’s State of the Union address, a senior State Department official said in a background briefing for reporters on Wednesday.
The boats — which were travelling from Kuwait to Bahrain — drifted into Iranian coastal waters on Tuesday near Farsi island after experiencing unspecified mechanical or navigational problems.
Naval Forces Central Command said the sailors were released from Farsi island aboard the two riverine command boats they had been operating. The sailors were later transferred ashore by navy aircraft, ending up in Qatar.