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Defense Secretary Says U.S. Sailors Made Navigational Error Into Iranian Waters Defense Secretary Says U.S. Sailors Made Navigational Error Into Iranian Waters
(about 5 hours later)
DORAL, Fla. — The American sailors detained by Iran on Tuesday made a navigational error that mistakenly took them into Iranian territorial waters, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said on Thursday. TAMPA, Fla. — The American sailors detained by Iran earlier this week made a navigational error that mistakenly took them into Iranian territorial waters, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said on Thursday.
In a formal acknowledgment that the Persian Gulf incident was the result of an error by the United States Navy, Mr. Carter said the crews of two American patrol craft “obviously had misnavigated,” when they came within a few miles of Farsi Island, where Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps has a naval base. In a formal acknowledgment that the Persian Gulf episode was the result of an error by the United States Navy, Mr. Carter said the crews of two American patrol craft were not on a clandestine mission and “obviously had misnavigated” when they came within a few miles of Farsi Island, where Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps has a naval base.
Mr. Carter made the remarks in an interview with Jorge Ramos of Univision and Fusion on a trip to Florida to visit the United States Southern Command. He said that the 10 sailors on the boats had not reported the navigational error to their superiors before they were taken by the Iranians. He also said that they were not spying, but simply transiting from Kuwait to Bahrain. The 10 sailors on the boats did not report the navigational error to their superiors before they were taken by the Iranians, Mr. Carter said. “It may have been they were trying to sort it out at the time when they encountered the Iranian boats,” Mr. Carter said.
“They were aware they should not get into Iranian territorial waters,” he said. Mr. Carter addressed the episode at news a news conference here at the United States Central Command and in a television interview with Fusion. He declined to provide a timeline of the events Tuesday or explain what had caused the navigational error, saying that the sailors were still being debriefed and that there could be other factors that played a role in the episode.
Mr. Carter did not say what the explanation was for the navigational error, which resulted in the sailors being held overnight by Iran. They were released on Wednesday after negotiations between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif. “They were aware they should not get into Iranian territorial waters,” he said in the television interview.
The defense secretary’s comments came as new details emerged suggesting that American officials realized soon after the incident that the two boats had strayed inadvertently into internationally-recognized Iranian waters. Mr. Carter cautioned against reading too much into video that Iranian television has released of the sailors after they were detained, which showed a sailor apologizing for the episode. He said the video was being shown through the lens of the Iranian government.
Iranian officials, a senior administration official said on Thursday, were “never provocative” in interactions by telephone with their American counterparts as the episode unfolded. “This never entered the red zone,” the official said the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly. “Obviously I don’t like to see our people being detained by a foreign military,” he said.
Current and former Navy officials said Thursday that the seizure of the two boats reflected not just a major navigational blunder by the crew but also possibly a serious lapse of oversight by more senior leaders at the Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. Along with interviewing the sailors, military investigators are looking at satellite data and have examined the boats. So far, they have found little evidence that the Iranians took significant pieces of equipment off them, according to Gen. Lloyd J. Austin III, commander of Centcom, who oversees American military operations in the Persian Gulf.
“This was a debacle,” said one retired admiral with long experience in the Persian Gulf, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments. “The Iranians closely monitor their territorial waters, their air space, and their land borders. We have standard operating procedures to avoid incidents like this, and they obviously weren’t followed here.” “They are going through inventories right now, for the most part all the gear that we deploy with was largely there when we got the boats back,” said General Austin, speaking at the news conference at Centcom headquarters alongside Mr. Carter.
Commander Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for the Fifth Fleet, declined to comment in an email on whether the crew or senior commanders were at fault in this week’s incident. “As the investigation provides us with a full understanding of the circumstances that led to the incident we will assess whether our existing procedures and policies were followed in this case and whether any might need to be adjusted as a result of lessons learned from this event.” Mr. Carter had traveled to Centcom to meet with senior military leaders leading the efforts to defeat the Islamic State.
A Defense Department official said that the Navy had initially sent search and rescue aircraft to look for the sailors after the two boats lost contact with their superiors. Those aircraft, the official said, also entered Iranian airspace, after first alerting Iranian authorities that the two boats were missing. The defense secretary’s comments came as new details emerged suggesting that American officials realized soon after the episode that the two boats had inadvertently strayed into internationally recognized Iranian waters.
In the cramped international waters of the Persian Gulf — which the Americans call the Arabian Gulf, ceding nothing to Tehran — relations between the Navy and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps have long been tense. Both sides routinely spy on each other, and episodes between the two can flare up multiple times in a year. Iranian officials, a senior administration official said on Thursday, were “never provocative” in their interactions by telephone with their American counterparts as the episode unfolded. “This never entered the red zone,” the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The Revolutionary Guards navy consists of fast-attack speedboats with high-powered machine guns and torpedoes, and crews that in the past employed guerrilla tactics, including swarming perilously close to American warships. In 2013, small Navy patrol ships engaged Iranian gunboats at least three times in international waters. While Defense Department officials said that the Navy was conducting an investigation into the episode, they said it would be some time before a complete picture emerged.
According to these officials, the Navy first lost radio contact with the boats on Tuesday afternoon, and after the boats failed to make a scheduled refueling stop, the Navy sent search and rescue aircraft to look for them. GPS equipment on the boats showed the boats were in Iranian territorial waters. The rescue aircraft, an official said, also entered Iranian airspace, after first alerting the Iranian authorities that the two boats were missing.
Current and former Navy officials said Thursday that the seizure of the two boats reflected not just a major navigational blunder by the crew but possibly a serious lapse of oversight by more senior leaders at the Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.
“This was a debacle,” said one retired admiral with long experience in the Persian Gulf, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments. “The Iranians closely monitor their territorial waters, their airspace, and their land borders. We have standard operating procedures to avoid incidents like this, and they obviously weren’t followed here.”
Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, a spokesman for the Fifth Fleet, declined to comment in an email on whether the crew or senior commanders were at fault in this week’s episode. “As the investigation provides us with a full understanding of the circumstances that led to the incident we will assess whether our existing procedures and policies were followed in this case and whether any might need to be adjusted as a result of lessons learned from this event.”
In the cramped international waters of the Persian Gulf — which the Americans call the Arabian Gulf, ceding nothing to Tehran — relations between the Navy and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps have long been tense. Both sides routinely spy on each other, and incidents are not infrequent.
The Fifth Fleet maintains a presence in the Persian Gulf, including the aircraft carrier, and lately has had several episodes with Iran. Two weeks ago, Iranian vessels harassed an American carrier and a French frigate in the Strait of Hormuz, launching rockets that passed within 1,500 yards of the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman.
The Revolutionary Guards have fast-attack speedboats with high-powered machine guns and torpedoes, and crews that in the past have employed guerrilla tactics, including swarming perilously close to American warships. In 2013, small Navy patrol ships engaged Iranian gunboats at least three times in international waters.