Iran says it has released all 10 American Navy sailors taken captive Tuesday

A U.S. Navy Riverine boat travels near Bahrain
(Image credit: Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images)

On Wednesday, Iranian state media reported that all 10 U.S. Navy sailors taken custody on Tuesday have been freed. Iran picked up the nine men and one woman after their two boats drifted into Iranian waters, then held them overnight at a base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. Iran originally accused the 10 sailors of "trespassing" and suggested they might have been spying on Iran, but later Gen. Ali Fadavi, the Naval chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, said in a statement that Iran's "investigations show the two U.S. Navy boats entered Iranian territorial waters due to a broken navigation system."

The boats are not carrying advanced technology and the Iranians aren't expected to learn anything sensitive from gaining access to the crafts, The Associated Press reports.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.