TEHRAN, IRAN — The crews of two small US Navy ships were detained in the Persian Gulf by Iran on Tuesday, although the Pentagon said it expected them to be returned soon.
The two riverine command boats carrying 10 naval crew were travelling from Kuwait to Bahrain on a training exercise when the incident occurred.
US naval officials said one of the boats appeared to have suffered a mechanical problem which led the boats to drift into Iranian territorial waters around Farsi Island.
Iran's Farsi news agency said the crews had been taken to an Iranian naval base on the island after illegally straying more than a mile into its waters, and accused the crews of 'snooping.'
After high-level communication between the two sides following the soldiers' detention, US officials said they expected the crews to be released "in the next few hours."
The detention comes during a period of increased tension between the US and Iran just days before the implementation of a crucial deal on Iran's nuclear program, with Iranian forces recently launching rockets that passed within 1,500 yards of the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.
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