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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Join the Navy, See Iran… Wait, What?

Join the Navy, See Iran… Wait, What?

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Earlier today two small US Naval vessels were stopped by the Iranians near Farsi Island. Apparently one of the two craft had experienced mechanical difficulties. The Iranians fairly quickly let it be known that the Sailors would be released to go back on their way in short order. Secretary of State Kerry immediately made contact with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to deal with this. Zarif, reportedly, indicated they would be released immediately and that is expected to be some time today.

The Sailors, five per Riverine type of craft, were on a brown water training mission between Kuwait and Bahrain. It is unclear if they drifted into Iranian territorial waters, but given the narrowness of the waterway where they were training, it is possible. At this point everything seems to be working the way it is supposed to. Vessels were in distress, there was a response by one of the state’s in the area, everyone recognizes that there was no intentional incursion, and the Sailors are supposed to be back underway shortly. Provided this is how it actually plays out, then there’s really no major issues here.

Except for whatever hay can be made in the news media and political sphere. I was at the gym when I saw CNN on one of the overhead TVs breaking this story and interviewing members of Congress about it. Since I actually watch cartoons on my iPad while doing cardio, I checked the BBC news site to see what was actually going on. At that point the Beeb’s coverage was a one paragraph run down that the one of the two craft had mechanical problems, the Iranians had responded, the Sailors had been brought to Farsi Island, and the Iranians had announced they’d be back underway later today. So we’ll have to see how this gets spun by both the news media and politicians as we head into the State of the Union tonight. So far even Fox News, at least on their website, is playing this as straight reporting.

Reader Interactions

58Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Let’s wait and see what the cretinous trash of the Klown Kar have to say about this.

  4. 4.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Baud: I can say that between 4 and 5 CNN was pimping it as breaking news for all its worth. Didn’t see Blitzer though, just Taper. So either they were trying to charge up Wolf’s power pack or he’d stroked out from sheer bliss.

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Joe Scarborough ‏@ JoeNBC 2h2 hours ago
    Hey Iran, you have exactly 300 days left to push a US president around. Enjoy it while you can. After that, there will be hell to pay.

    Somebody on Maddow’s staff has the google-fu to find Congressman Scarborough’s reaction to China pushing GWB around in the summer of 2001. Please let somebody read them back to him.

    Or they could just quote radical leftist Norm Ornstein of AEI

    ‏@ NormOrnstein Norman Ornstein Retweeted Joe Scarborough
    .@ JoeNBC Iran goes from near zero to 8,000 centrifuges under Bush. Was there hell to pay?

  7. 7.

    Davebo

    I’m surprised that with just one of the two craft disabled the operational one didn’t just tow it back to wherever it came from.

    And I’m glad I was never brown water Navy! Carriers can suck in some ways like having to take P boats or ferries to shore for liberty but they never break down, they were always well supplied and were always well defended!

  9. 9.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Davebo: Several of the reports – BBC, ABC, NBC – indicate the disable craft had drifted and beached itself on Farsi Island. So that may have been a contributing factor. Combined with a lack of time to get the tow set up before the Revolutionary Guard naval elements arrived.

  11. 11.

    jl

    @Baud:

    ” Maybe this ended too quickly for the talking points to be drafted. ”

    No no no. Pro-tip to Baud: they are written beforehand. Yeesh.

    @Roger Moore: line them up? What is this we are talking about, logic or something. Double yeesh.

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    Steve Schmidt seems to have gotten his religion back. After a while of being disgusted with the GOP situation he is now spouting pure and unadulterated bullshit strongman talking points on MSNBC.

  15. 15.

    jl

    @Baud: The sailors could be home already with a year supply of complementary lamb kabobs, baklava and doogh, and a couple of GOPers will still yell about it tonight.

  16. 16.

    Corner Stone

    The 10 sailors will be back in US custody before I have time to masturbate again. And if they aren’t, do we start cruz missiling Tehran over this?

  19. 19.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: I haven’t gotten through that meshugas yet. I’ll look at the reporting and see if there is anything juicy that merits interfering what I’m sure will be an exciting State of the Union and post State of the Union set of posts.

  21. 21.

    Anne Laurie

    I’ve got one ear on the CBS preparing-for-the-SotU livestream, and Claire McCaskill just pointed out that, if “we” didn’t have the new agreement with Iran “Secretary Kerry couldn’t have picked up the phone and straightened this out so quickly.”

    You go, Claire!

  22. 22.

    Hal

    @Corner Stone:

    I’ve noticed that the closer to election season, the more obnoxious he gets. “The president is the most powerful man in the world blah blah blah” just now on msnbc, with Maddow trying in vain to disrupt a train of thought regurgitated by every political talking head for decades.

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Anne Laurie: That’s important. There is very little trust between the US and Iran for a lot of reasons. This resolving itself quickly and in the manner being described will add just a little bit more. One of the most interesting things about the limited relationship building is how the US actually made an overture:
    http://iran.usembassy.gov/griffin.html
    http://www.nbcnews.com/science/archaeo-diplomacy-us-gives-million-dollar-cup-back-iran-8C11281668

  27. 27.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cacti: I’ve said this before, in other places, this is why we do not let captains (O3s) set policy and develop strategy.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    From Kos

    Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado called for President Obama to delay his State of the Union address until Congress could be briefed. “I think the White House needs to be honest and transparent as quickly as possible with the members of the Congress, the House and the Senate — perhaps that even means a delay to the start of the State of the Union tonight to talk about exactly what happened,” Gardner told CNN.

    LOL.

  35. 35.

    muddy

    Interesting that Farsi Island (odd name for island) is just about exactly in the middle of the Gulf. I used to spend a lot of time on Lavan.

  36. 36.

    slag

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Christ do these people ever grow up? If “I’m going to tell my daddy on you!” is their first resort, I can only hope their daddy has already packed his bags and gone out for cigarettes. We’re better off without him.

  37. 37.

    Heliopause

    Wolf Blitzer was so aroused he got a non-chemically induced erection.

    I think before he leaves office Obama should pull a little prank on Blitzer, have a “source” whisper to him and him only that a bombing of Iran is in progress.

  39. 39.

    Peale

    Ok. Since the NYT reports that the sailors are accused of “snooping” I think it’s a good sign that if we keep our rhetoric down and don’t threaten to bomb Iran over our own mechanical problems, everything should blow over quickly. Snooping, unlike spying, carries a penalty of a finger wag.

  42. 42.

    muddy

    @raven: I saw someone on a news channel comments saying it was suspicious because why would they have riverine craft in “the sands of Kuwait”.

  44. 44.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Adam L Silverman: So far I don’t think that anybody has pointed out that Farsi Island is a high security Iranian Naval Base.

    I suspect that somebody was definitely snooping.

  45. 45.

    raven

    @muddy: When this whole clusterfuck started in Iraq I remember them tapping some old Brown Water Navy dudes for advice.

    Riverine Group (RIVGRU 1) and Riverine Squadron 1 were both formally established May 25, 2006, under Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. It was modeled after the Navy Riverine Forces, formed during the Viet Nam War. That Riverine Force was the most highly decorated unit of the war and also had the highest casualty rate. 1 in 3, wounded or killed. The establishment brought together sailors from diverse backgrounds to begin a transformation from blue water to brown water sailors.[4]

  46. 46.

    hidflect

    The American sailors gave the Iranians a handful of USB sticks as a token of gratitude… (sarc.)

  49. 49.

    muddy

    There was a whole way of life on the river systems at the head of the Gulf, people never go to shore at all. Of course Saddam Hussein drained a lot of the marshes.

    I just thought it was funny that idiots on the internet think that the entire Gulf region is just a field of sand, like the Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia.

  50. 50.

    jonas

    This situation would have resolved itself SOOOOO much better if we hadn’t signed that nuclear agreement. Had we just been intransigent assholes with everything, the mullahs wouldn’t have dared touch these sailors. Because badassness. Or something.

    I thank FSM everyday grownups are in charge of our executive branch, and not the bedwetting, set-our-hair-on-fire at every turn, warmongering idiots who threaten to return us to the dark ages beginning in January 2017.

  52. 52.

    The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...

    Why do I get this unpleasant feeling that somewhere, the Saudis are going, “Please do something stupid, please do something stupid, please do something stupid”, over and over again…

  54. 54.

    The Republic, Blah Blah Blah...

    @Adam L Silverman: Apparently they are and were that stupid…

    If only we could arrange some sort of steel death cage match between the Iranians and the Buddy Boys…

    THAT would be television worth watching…

    Truthfully, for everyone’s sake, I sincerely hope they release the boats and sailors unharmed…

  57. 57.

    El Caganer

    I thought the sailors were taking control of Farsi Island and demanding that it be returned to America’s farmers and ranchers. Or maybe I have this confused with something else.

  58. 58.

    Cermet

    As of now, it is being reported that all ten sailors have been released; not surprised that 1) Iran came to their aid 2) Processed them (since they were military) 3) Released them asap. Iran isn’t looking for trouble and neither were we. Handled according to typical procedures between two countries that do not have direct diplomatic relations.

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