Media: Iran not making Obama look good tonight

“It’s hard to overstate how foolish Iran keeps making our president look,” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said. “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.”

Conservative columnist Noah Pollack added in reference to State’s penchant for social media gimmicks, “I can’t believe Obama admin hasn’t deployed a hashtag yet.”

“Cancel my Everything Is Awesome speech! — What Obama isn’t saying right now,” New York Post columnist Kyle Smith added, referring to Tuesday’s State of the Union address.

“Make no mistake, the White House is now more concerned about how this will impact Obama’s last #SOTU, than the crew,” NRA News’ Cameron Gray added.

Two Navy boats were reportedly flagged down near Farsi Island, where American sailors were later detained for a period of time, according to people familiar with the situation. American officials have said that the sailors are being held by members of Iran’s radical Revolutionary Guard.

“The Iranians own Obama. The nuclear deal he agreed to is dangerous for all Americans,” said Fox News contributor Richard Grenell.

Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren added in reference to other hostages being held by Iran, “If Iranians are releasing our sailors, could they throw in Marine Hekmati, Pastor Abedini, Journo Rezain and FBI Bob Levinson?”

Initial reports alleged that the Navy boats drifted into Iranian waters after they suffered some sort of mechanical malfunction. However, those claims are now being disputed.

“We have been in contact with Iran and have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly,” Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said Tuesday.

White House Press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday afternoon that the hostages were being treated well and that there was little reason to be concerned. Spokesperson for the White House also suggested Tuesday that because the incident occurred late at night, it “would be unsafe for Iran to release American Military Personnel at night.”

“As usual, the administration is making a better case for Iranian actions than Iran,” Commentary’s Noah Rothman said in reaction to the White House’s initial response to the issue.

Secretary of State John Kerry was reportedly notified of the situation at 12:30 pm ET Tuesday afternoon. He said later that he is involved directly in attempts to resolve the situation.

The detainment of 10 U.S. Navy sailors, one of whom is a woman, comes after the Obama administration’s years-long attempts to broker a nuclear deal with Iran. The incident also comes, “on the heels of an incident in late December when Iran launched a rocket test near U.S. warships and boats passing through the Strait of Hormuz.,” the AP noted.

“Guys, sometimes you have to crack a few US Naval properties to make a World Peace Omelet,” Commentary’s Seth Mandel said.

Early reports also alleged that Obama had no plans to address the situation during his scheduled address before a joint meeting of Congress.

Mandel added later in reference to the president’s scheduled address, “Did Obama remember to clear his speech with the Iranian Foreign Ministry tonight? If not, maybe that’s what set them off.”

The financial news blog Zero Hedge asked of the alleged Iranian aggression, “Is Iran going to wait until the end of the SOTU address before returning the 10 sailors?”

But it wasn’t all harsh criticism for the White House Tuesday afternoon, as a few reporters, including BuzzFeed’s Hayes Brown, offered alternative theories as to what had happened to the U.S. sailors.

“I could be VERY WRONG but this feels more like Iran acting as Triple AAA than the Iranian Hostage Crisis Redux,” he said. “But what do I know, I’m not at the Pentagon and I do things like redundantly say ‘Triple AAA.'”