Navy Releases Timeline of Iran’s Capture of U.S. Sailorshttp://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/19/us/politics/navy-releases-timeline-of-irans-capture-of-us-sailors.html?_r=0By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTJAN. 18, 2016
In an effort to defuse the controversy over the brief capture of 10 Navy sailors last week, the Defense Department on Monday released a timeline of events surrounding the seizure, but the account was spare on new details and left several fundamental questions unanswered.
The timeline did not explain why the crews of two patrol boats — which the military said were supposed to remain in international waterways — deviated from their course and strayed into Iranian territorial waters. Nor did it explain why they allowed Iranian sailors to board their boats, or why the boats’ communications equipment apparently failed, cutting them off from their superiors.
Senior Pentagon officials said the timeline contained limited new information because the Navy was reviewing the actions of the sailors, who could face stiff judicial and administrative punishment for the episode. The Navy does not want to prejudice the outcome of that inquiry by offering too many details, the officials said.
The capture was highly embarrassing for the Navy. It came just hours before President Obama’s last State of the Union address and while American and Iranian diplomats were in the final stages of negotiating a prisoner swap. The Iranian government was also taking its last measures to comply with the nuclear deal, which allowed economic sanctions against the country to be lifted on Saturday.
The information released on Monday gave a few specific times that had not previously been made public. But it did not go much beyond the general narrative that emerged last week — which was based largely on statements from Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter — that the crews were not on a clandestine mission and had “misnavigated” when they came within a few miles of Farsi Island, where Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps has a naval base in the middle of the Persian Gulf.
The timeline said that last Tuesday, the crews were taking two riverine command boats, which are typically used to patrol shallow waterways, from Kuwait to Bahrain. The boats departed Kuwait at 12:23 p.m. local time and were supposed to refuel from a Coast Guard cutter in the Persian Gulf at 5 p.m.
“The planned transit path for the mission was down the middle of the gulf and not through the territorial waters of any country other than Kuwait and Bahrain,” according to the timeline released by the United States Central Command, which oversees all American military operations in the Middle East.
Around 5:10 p.m., the Navy received a report that the boats “were being queried by Iranians.” At 5:29 p.m., the Navy “was advised of degraded communications” with the boats. And then at 5:45 p.m., the Navy “was notified of a total loss of communications with” the craft, prompting a search-and-rescue operation.
The Navy tried to contact Iranian military units near Farsi Island “by broadcasting information regarding their search-and-rescue effort over marine radio,” according to the timeline. “Officials also separately notified Iranian coast guard units by phone about the search for their personnel.”
A little less than four hours after the sailors were taken, a Navy cruiser “received a communication from the Iranians” that they were in Iranian custody “and were safe and healthy.”
“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,” the timeline said, using the acronym for the riverine command boats. “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.”
According to the timeline, one of the boats had a mechanical issue with its diesel engine that caused both boats to stop to “begin troubleshooting.”
The boats had stopped in Iranian territorial waters, “although it’s not clear the crew was aware of their exact location,” the timeline said.
While the crew members were investigating the mechanical issue, two small Iranian boats with armed personnel approached, the timeline said. “Soon after, two more Iranian military vessels arrived on scene also with armed personnel on board.”
The Iranian and American sailors had a verbal exchange, but there was no gunfire, the military said. Then, armed Iranian military personnel boarded the boats “while other Iranian personnel aboard the Iranian vessels conducted armed over-watch of the boats with mounted machine guns.”
The boats were escorted at gunpoint to Farsi Island, where the American sailors disembarked and were detained for about 15 hours, the timeline said.
There is no indication the sailors were physically harmed.
“The Navy command investigation will focus on the sailors’ treatment while in Iranian custody, including any interrogation by Iranian personnel,” Central Command said.
At 11:43 a.m. on Wednesday, the sailors were released. Other sailors were brought in to take over the boats, which continued on to Bahrain; the crews members who had been taken captive were flown to land by Navy aircraft.
An inventory of the boats found that the Iranians had not taken any weapons, ammunition or communications gear. But two SIM cards, which can store data, from hand-held satellite phones were missing.
“The sailors are in good health and continue to go through the reintegration process,” the military said. “The Navy command investigation continues, and more details will be provided when it is completed.”
