Hossein Jaberi Ansari told reporters on Wednesday after freeing of 10 US sailors by the IRGC that they were trespassing in Iranian waters in the vicinity of Farsi Island in Persian Gulf and they were arrested in line with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Navy’s commitment to provide the security of territorial waters and navigation security in own waters; “the investigation into the trespassing by ten US sailors into Iran’s waters, which was clear violation of national borders, indicated that the navigation system of the ship had been broken and falsely lead the sailors to actually approach our territorial waters. No intentionality or evil purpose had been behind the issue, as sailors explained as well,” he told reporters.
“According to international maritime law, facilitation of shipping in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman will be the guiding principle for the Iranian armed forces missions; with only days to the implementation of JCPOA, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran’s FM Javad Zarif talked over the phone call the issue facilitated the solving of the US sailors arrest as well,” he added.
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