The crew of the two U.S. Navy riverine boats had stopped in Iranian waters to fix an issue with one of its diesel engines when they were approached by Iranian military, according to a timeline of events released Monday by U.S. Central Command.
It’s still not clear why they had deviated from their planned route from Kuwait to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf or if they knew where they were, beyond administration statements last week that the crew had made a navigational error.
The report also found that two SIM cards appeared to have been removed from two handheld satellite phones and were missing. All other weapons, ammunition and communications gear did not appear to be missing.
The timeline’s release comes days after the U.S. lifted a number of sanctions against Iran for its compliance with parts of the nuclear deal and Iran released U.S. hostages, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian.
Iran’s detention of the 10 sailors came at an awkward time for the White House, hours before President Obama gave his State of the Union speech that included a victory lap over the Iran nuclear deal.
On Tuesday, the two riverine command boats were tasked with transiting from Kuwait to Bahrain. The planned route was down the middle of the Persian Gulf, including a refueling en route with the Coast Guard cutter Monomoy, and did not pass through territorial waters other than those belonging to Kuwait and Bahrain.
Around 5 p.m. local time, the Navy learned that the boat crews were being queried by the Iranians. About half an hour later, the Navy lost all communication with the crews, sparking an “intensive search and rescue operation” that included aircraft from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman and U.S. Air Force as well as vessels from the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and U.K. Royal Navy.
The U.S. attempted to contact Iranian troops operating near Farsi Island about their search for the personnel. Almost four hours after losing contact, a Navy cruiser heard from the Iranians that the sailors were “safe and healthy” in Iranian custody.
Initial reports show that the boats deviated from their planned path on the way to the refueling with Monomoy.
“The command investigation will determine what caused the change in course and why the [riverine command boats] entered into Iranian territorial waters in the vicinity of Farsi Island,” the Central Command release said.
One of the boats experienced an issue with its diesel engine, causing both boats to stop and troubleshoot. This stop occurred in Iranian territorial waters, though it’s not clear if the crew “was aware of their exact location,” the report says.
During the stop, two Iranian boats approached the U.S. sailors, followed by two more Iranian military ships. Both ships had armed personnel onboard.
“Armed Iranian military personnel then boarded the [riverine boats], while other Iranian personnel aboard the Iranian vessels conducted armed over-watch of the boats with mounted machine guns. At gunpoint, the [riverine boats] were escorted to a small port facility on Farsi Island where the U.S. sailors disembarked and were detained for approximately 15 hours,” the report says.
The 10 sailors left Farsi Island in the morning aboard the two U.S. riverine boats, and were later transferred to shore by U.S. Navy aircraft. Other sailors completed the planned transfer of the boats on Bahrain.
A post-incident survey discovered that the SIM cards from the satellite phones were missing.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., last week worried that Iran had stolen classified technology from the two boats while in their custody, and asked the Pentagon to tell Congress if any sensitive information or equipment had been compromised, according to a Defense News report.
“We’d be stupid to think that they didn’t,” Hunter told the paper. “I’m glad that the sailors are back safe, but there’s no way [the Iranian military] just let those boats sit there, and didn’t reverse engineer, or look at and copy everything that they possibly could.”Í
