US Navy saves Iranian sailors from pirates

Riot · #1 01-06-2012, 05:45 PM

"US Navy Frees Iranians From Pirates - US to Iran 'How do you like them apples?"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/0...es?via=siderec

Quote:

In the last week or so the Iranian navy has repeatedly been boasting of its capabilities and threatening to attack the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis if it attempts to pass through the Strait of Hormuz again. They've threatened to shut down all traffic of crude oil through the Strait, and Iran's parliament is debating a measure that would require the US Navy to get permission before passing through the international waterway.

Cue today's story

http://abcnews.go.com/...

Quote:

The U.S. Navy rescued more than a dozen Iranian sailors who had been held at sea by a band of pirates for weeks, the Pentagon announced today.

According to the military's account, an American helicopter from the destroyer USS Kidd "detected a suspected pirate skiff alongside" an Iranian-flagged fishing ship in the Arabian Sea Thursday. At the same time, the Iranian ship was able to send a distress call, claiming the ship was held by pirates.

American Navy sailors with a "visit, board, search and seizure team" then boarded the Iranian ship and were able to detain 15 suspected pirates and free the 13-member Iranian crew, the Pentagon said. A Navy Criminal Investigative Service agent on the scene, Josh Schminky, said the Iranian crew had been forced to help the pirates carry out operations and pirates had apparently been using the Iranian ship as a "mothership".

"When we boarded, we gave [the Iranians] food, water, and medical care," Schminky said in a Pentagon report. "They had been through a lot. We went out of our way to treat the fishing crew with kindness and respect."

Rear Admiral Craig Faller, commander of the nearby USS John C. Stennis, told ABC News the Iranians knew their rescuers were Americans and were "ecstatic" and "overjoyed" to be freed.