Upon news that Iran detained 10 U.S. sailors in the Persian Gulf, Sec. of State John Kerry had one thing on his mind: cheese.
Actually, Kerry was thinking about “Big Block of Cheese Day,” a cheesy White House event that President Obama started in 2014.
.@HHigginbottom and @ABlinken take part in @WhiteHouse’s #BigBlockOfCheeseDay tomorrow. Send them your toughest #foreignpolicy questions.
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) January 12, 2016
The occasion, which will be held on Wednesday, is meant to commemorate an open house event President Andrew Jackson held in 1837 in which he brought in a 1,400 pound block of cheese for the public to eat from. The TV show “West Wing” memorialized it in an episode in which White House officials and cabinet members spend one workday meeting with members of various fringe special interest groups.
But more pressing concerns were at hand when Kerry published his cheese day tweet.
Iran detained 10 crew members from two small Navy boats after one ran into mechanical problems near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday. The Islamic regime’s Revolutionary Guard Navy took the sailors into custody claiming that they were trespassing in Iranian waters, according to the Associated Press.
The wire service reported that Kerry learned about the incident at around 12:30 p.m. EST and called Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammed Javad Zarif.
The pair developed a personal relationship while negotiating last year’s nuclear deal.
Shortly after, Kerry, or someone manning his account at the State Department, tweeted about the White House’s cheese event, which will be hosted online and will allow the public to ask questions of federal officials.
According to the AP and other outlets, Iran is expected to hand the sailors over without incident. But it comes at an especially tense moment in U.S.-Iran relations. Last month Iran launched a missile test in the Strait of Hormuz as U.S. ships were nearby. Iran is also refusing to release Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who was convicted of drummed-up espionage charges in closed-door proceedings last year.