The Pentagon just confirmed Tuesday that Iran is holding two U.S. Navy boats and their respective crews.
Iran reportedly said that it will soon release the crews, composed of 10 U.S. Navy sailors, one a woman, after initially picking up the boats while they were on their way from Kuwait to Bahrain, The Washington Post reports.
The incident, which occurred near Farsi Island, may not have been malicious. A U.S. official told The Washington Post that in fact Iran may be in possession of U.S. Navy crews because the boats broke down, or ran out of gas. The boats are small in size and apparently were within 12 nautical miles of Iranian territory when they ran into mechanical failure. Iran, lead by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, is currently holding the crews on Farsi Island.
President Barack Obama will soon deliver his State of the Union address before the nation. The Iran nuclear deal is likely to be one of the topics mentioned.
Secretary of State John Kerry is in talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. A U.S. senior official told ABC News that he is “personally engaged with Zarif on this issue to try to get to this outcome.”
The last time tensions rose between the two was recent, when Iran shot a rocket by U.S. warships in December.
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