U.S. military rescues Iranians captured by pirates

By J. David Goodman and Robert Mackey

New York Times

Thirteen Iranians whose fishing vessel had been seized by pirates more than a month ago were rescued by the U.S. Navy in the North Arabian Sea, the Pentagon announced Friday. The pirates, who surrendered without a fight, were detained aboard the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis, the military said, adding that the Iranians were on their way home.

It was the second time in a week that the carrier, which left the Persian Gulf for the North Arabian Sea late last month, found itself at the center of the news during a tense and very public standoff with Iran. On Tuesday, the Iranian military warned that it would take unspecified action if the aircraft carrier returned to the gulf.

The Pentagon said the Iranian crew had been held for 40 to 45 days in harsh conditions by 15 pirates, with limited food and water, as the pirates used the large captured vessel, the Iranian-flagged Al Molai, as a "mother ship" in further raids.

"They were held hostage, with limited rations, and we believe were forced against their will to assist the pirates with other piracy operations," said Josh Schminky, a Navy Criminal Investigative Service agent.

The USS Kidd, a U.S. destroyer that is part of a strike group traveling with the Stennis, intercepted the Al Molai on Thursday after receiving a distress call, the military said. According to the statement, a team from the destroyer boarded the vessel and freed the crew. The military statement did not include

any report of violence.

Coming amid an increasingly pitched war of words between Western powers and Iran, the freeing of the Iranians by soldiers from the very same carrier threatened earlier in the week offered the United States an unexpected public relations coup.

The military statement included photographs and a video posted to YouTube that showed roughly a dozen men in colorful T-shirts standing at the bow of the fishing vessel with their hands raised high above their heads.

"The captain of the Al Molai expressed his sincere gratitude that we came to assist them. He was afraid that without our help, they could have been there for months," Schminky said.

It was not immediately clear by what means the rescued men were being returned to Iran.

The rescue of the Iranians appeared to put the Iranian government in an awkward position as it strikes a defiant posture in the face of new economic sanctions attacking its oil exports.

On Thursday, Iranian officials called the intensified efforts to halt Iran's nuclear program tantamount to "an economic war" and vowed to conduct a new round of military drills near the Strait of Hormuz.

The Iranian military, fresh off 10 days of naval exercises near the strait that ended this week, said it would hold a new round of war games soon.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_19691772?source=rss

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