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Post by Admin on Jan 14, 2016 19:33:22 GMT
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps has released 10 U.S. Navy sailors who were being held after their boats are said to have drifted into Iranian waters on a journey from Kuwait to Bahrain Tuesday.  "Ten U.S. Navy Sailors safely returned to U.S. custody today, after departing Iran. There are no indications that the Sailors were harmed during their brief detention,” according to a statement from the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs Office. "The Sailors departed Farsi Island at at 8:43 a.m. GMT, aboard the two Riverine Command Boats (RCB) that they had been operating when they lost contact with the U.S. Navy. The Sailors were later transferred ashore by U.S. Navy aircraft, while other Sailors took charge of the RCBs and continued transiting toward Bahrain, the boats' original destination. The Navy will investigate the circumstances that led to the Sailors' presence in Iran," the statement added.  The craft were supposed to have been refueled by another U.S. Navy ship in the Gulf so it could complete the journey from Kuwait to Bahrain, the U.S. official said Tuesday, but never made it to the refueling craft.  Secretary of Defense Ash Carter released a statement, saying, "I am pleased that ten U.S. Navy sailors have departed Iran and are now back in U.S. hands. I want to personally thank Secretary of State John Kerry for his diplomatic engagement with Iran to secure our sailors' swift return. Around the world, the U.S. Navy routinely provides assistance to foreign sailors in distress, and we appreciate the timely way in which this situation was resolved." |
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Post by Admin on Jan 18, 2016 19:42:59 GMT
The Americans imprisoned by Iran began their journey home Sunday, their friends and family awaiting emotional reunions, after delicate diplomatic negotiations that played out quietly in the shadows of international nuclear talks.  "This is a good day," President Barack Obama said from the White House. "When Americans are freed and returned to their families, that's something we can all celebrate." A Swiss air force plane carrying three Americans released by Iran landed in Geneva, and they were U.S. officials said Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, and pastor Saeed Abedini were on the flight, but not Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari. Iran said he had taken off, too. The discrepancy could not immediately be reconciled. "Those who wished to depart Iran have left," according to a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter and privacy concerns for the families.  On Saturday, the International Atomic Energy Agency issued a report confirming Iran's compliance with the July 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran, the U.S. and five world powers -- a move that triggered broad sanctions relief. As part of the prisoner exchange, the U.S. is releasing or dropping charges against seven Iranians who were being held in the country on sanctions violations. All were born in Iran, but six are dual Iranian-American citizens. The seven men all have the option to remain in the U.S. The U.S. is also dropping Interpol red notices against 14 Iranians who they assessed were not likely to be extradited to the U.S. regardless. |
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Post by Admin on Jan 19, 2016 19:19:20 GMT
In 2007, 15 British sailors and marines were seized by Iranian authorities while conducting an inspection of a merchant ship in what the Iranians claimed were their territorial waters. It took Iran, then under the leadership of the hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 13 days to release the Britons. By contrast, Tuesday's incident — under the leadership of moderate President Hassan Rouhani — lasted less than 24 hours.  If the Obama administration hadn't signed the nuclear deal with Iran, if it had maintained the George W. Bush administration status quo, Tuesday's mishap might well have been a repeat of 2007. The Bush administration barred high-level contacts with the Iranians, leading American military officials to express concern that precisely the type of incident that occurred Tuesday could spiral out of control. It's worth noting that the sailors were detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, a redoubt of hard-line opposition to diplomacy with the West and which has shown a willingness to defy Rouhani in order to embarrass him. On this occasion, the guard corps chose a different course.  Neoconservatives often bristle at the notion that our hard-liners and their Iranian counterparts seem to be working toward the same goal: namely, confrontation between our two nations. Returning to the imaginary scenario of Iranian boats drifting into an American naval base, one can't help but wonder, would our hard-liners have acted as sensibly as the Revolutionary Guard? |
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Post by Admin on May 9, 2018 18:13:53 GMT
President Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States will pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump had long expressed dismay at the terms of the agreement, negotiated during former President Obama’s second term in office and signed in 2015.
Trump makes no secret of his distaste for multilateralism in many areas, from trade to security.
Figures within his administration who had once sought to restrain his go-it-alone impulses, including former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster, have departed.
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Post by Admin on May 10, 2018 18:20:28 GMT
 President Donald Trump is defending his decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, saying "bedlam" and "death" follow wherever Iran is involved. Speaking during a Cabinet meeting, Trump says he is open to negotiating a new deal with Iran, but adds: "We're going to make either a really good deal for the world or we're not going to make a deal at all." Trump disregarded the pleas of U.S. allies to remain in the agreement, and instead announced Tuesday that he would reinstate sanctions on Iran in the coming months. Trump says the Iran deal was "one sided" and would have led to nuclear proliferation. He adds that he would "advise Iran not to start their nuclear program." |
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