Iranian Military Seizes 10 American Sailors in Persian Gulf

This is a developing story.

Up to 10 sailors from two U.S. Navy boarts have been seized by the Iranian military in the Persian gulf, U.S. officials announced on Tuesday.

The two vessels are currently in Iranian custody. The sailors are being held at an Iranian Revolutionary Guard base for allegedly “snooping around”, Vice News reports.

The officials told NBC News the American sailors “were on a training mission when their boat experienced mechanical difficulty and drifted into Iranian-claimed waters and were seized by Iranian Coast guard.” 

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that the boats “were moving between Kuwait and Bahrain when the U.S. lost contact with them.”

The Associated Press reports that American officials “have received assurances from Tehran that the crew and vessels will be returned safely and promptly,” a statement Cook echoed by telling reporters that defense officials “have received assurances that the crew and the vessels will be returned promptly.”

The White House is currently working to resolve the situation and have the sailors seized by the Iranian government “returned to normal deployment,” according to Reuters.

The plans call for Iran “to bring the sailors to international waters, where they will be transferred to a vessel from the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group,” a U.S. official told Reuters.

This is a developing story. We will update this post with more details as they become available.