WASHINGTON – A week after Iran detained 10 U.S. sailors, the U.S. Navy is still investigating why the two crews entered Iranian territorial waters, according to a U.S. Naval Central Command statement to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
The Riverine Command Boat crews were relocating their vessels from Kuwait to Bahrain, with a planned refueling en route alongside the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Monomoy.
The planned path of the RCBs, which train and deploy in pairs, was the middle of the Persian Gulf, to avoid Iranian territorial waters. They were authorized to traverse the territorial waters of Kuwait and Bahrain.
“NAVCENT's (U.S. Naval Forces Central Command) initial operational reports showed that while in transit from Kuwait to Bahrain the RCBs deviated from their planned course on their way to the refueling," NAVCENT said. "The command investigation will determine what caused the change in course and why the RCBs entered into Iranian territorial waters in the vicinity of Farsi Island."
Farsi Island belongs to Iran and is a strategic naval site for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Get the rest of this report, and others, at Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
NAVCENT said one of the RCBs had a "mechanical issue" in a diesel engine that caused the crews to stop and begin troubleshooting.
NAVCENT said, however, that the stoppage was in Iranian waters.
"It's not clear the crew was aware of their exact location," NAVCENT said.
The RCBs were to refuel with the USCGC Monomoy in international waters at a predetermined time, but 10 minutes after they were scheduled for the refueling, NAVCENT received a report that the RCBs had been detained by the Iranians.
NAVCENT sought to communicate with the RCBs, but there was no response, prompting an immediate search-and-rescue operation using air and naval assets from the USS Harry S. Truman, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard. British and French naval assets also joined in the search.
The Truman carrier strike group at that point was 45 miles southeast of Farsi Island, where the 10 US. sailors were taken at gunpoint by Iranian sailors.
Get the rest of this report, and others, at Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.