U.S. Navy mulls punishment for sailors seized by Iran <http://www.reuters.com/> June 23, 2016
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - United States Navy officials are reviewing potential punishments against the American sailors who were briefly held by Iran in January and are close to a decision, a Navy official said on Thursday. Ten U.S. sailors, who were aboard two patrol craft, were detained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Jan. 12 when they inadvertently entered Iranian territorial waters. They were released the next day after being held for about 15 hours. The U.S. military said the Americans were intercepted after the diesel engine in one of their boats developed a mechanical problem. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the investigation also found the incident was caused by communication failures and not enough oversight and training. Findings of the five-month long investigation will be presented by Admiral John Richardson, the chief of U.S. Naval Operations, at a briefing in the Pentagon on June 30 where he will give more details on the incident, the official said. If any punishments will have been decided by then, they will be announced by Richardson, the official added. "The investigation is complete, and is being referred to appropriate commands for adjudication," said U.S. Navy spokesman Commander Mike Kafka. In May, the U.S. Navy said it had fired the commander of the 10 American sailors. At the time, a Navy statement said that it had lost confidence in Commander Eric Rasch, who was the executive officer of the coastal riverine squadron. On Monday, June 27, 2016 at 2:32:16 PM UTC-5, plainolamerican wrote: > > WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy captain who was in charge of 10 > American sailors briefly held by Iran in January has been relieved of > command because of a "loss of confidence in his ability to command," a Navy > statement said on Friday. > > Ten U.S. sailors, who were aboard two patrol craft, were detained by > Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Jan. 12 when they > inadvertently entered Iranian territorial waters. They were released the > next day after being held for about 15 hours.] > > Captain Kyle Moses, commander of Task Force 56, was the second person to > be publicly reprimanded so far over the incident. In May, Commander Eric > Rasch, who was the executive officer of the coastal riverine squadron that > included the 10 sailors, was fired. > > Vice Admiral Kevin Donegan, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central > Command, said he had taken corrective action against Moses several weeks > ago. > > “However, after thoroughly examining the findings of the final, > comprehensive investigation, I determined that this additional action was > necessary,” Donegan said in the statement. > > Findings of the five-month investigation will be presented by Admiral John > Richardson, the chief of U.S. Naval Operations, at a briefing in the > Pentagon on June 30 where he will give more details on the incident. > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
