“All vessels must give prior notice if they want to sail through another country’s waters, especially if they are military,” said Ali Fadavi, Commander of the IRGC (the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps) Navy, referring to the two American riverine command boats that had illegally crossed into Iranian territorial waters around Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf.
“In the world of international relations, there is only one instance of innocent passage through international waters, and the presence of American military in the Persian Gulf and their passing through our waters has definitely never been innocent,” said Rear Admiral Fadavi.
He noted that the two military boats had 10 armed US Marine Corps, nine men and one woman, adding “these two boats have been situated three miles from the territorial waters of Farsi Island and were detained by the IRGC navy due to their unprofessional performance and did not put up much resistance.”
“After the seizure, the US aircraft carrier regrettably showed an unprofessional performance for 40 minutes by doing rounds in the region which shows Americans' lack of commitment to their claims of providing peace and security to the region,” he said. "During this 40 minutes, the IRGC timely actions managed to restore peace to the region and bring the situation under control."
The Navy commander maintained that from the first moments diplomatic calls had been held, adding “it was clear that US Secretary of State John Kerry had contacted Iran’s Foreign Ministry and demanded for the release of the marines but Mr. Zarif had taken a firm stance on this and said the marines had illegally entered Iranian territorial waters and the US must apologize to Iran.”
Admiral Fadavi further added that the IRGC navy will immediately take appropriate actions in regard to the detained marines as soon as it receives orders from the chain of command.
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