Iran’s Swift Release of U.S. Sailors Hailed as a Sign of Warmer Relations
By THOMAS ERDBRINK and HELENE COOPER

TEHRAN — Iran’s release of 10 United States Navy sailors on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after they were detained on the Persian Gulf, is being hailed in both countries as a sign that their relations have evolved since the signing of the nuclear accord last summer.

Secretary of State John Kerry thanked the Iranians “for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter” and suggested in a statement that the quick resolution of the issue was a product of the nearly daily back-and-forth that now takes place between Washington and Tehran, after three decades of hostility and stony silence.

In an appearance later Wednesday at the National Defense University in Washington, Mr. Kerry said that his focus on diplomacy with a country “we hadn’t talked to for 35 years” before the nuclear negotiations had paid off.

“These are always situations that as everybody knows, if not properly handled, can get out of control,” Mr. Kerry said. “We can all imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago.”

The crew members of two patrol boats were detained on Tuesday after what Iranian state news media described as “trespassing” in Iranian waters near a major naval base. Similar episodes in the past, like the seizure of British marines in 2007, have developed into prolonged standoffs that further alienated Tehran and the West.

This time was different. The Pentagon and the State Department initially said that one of the boats had experienced mechanical problems en route to Bahrain from Kuwait in a routine mission on Tuesday, and that the Iranians appeared to have accepted the explanation.

On Wednesday morning, however, after the crew members and boats were returned, defense officials said they no longer believed that mechanical problems were the cause, noting that both boats returned to United States custody under their own power.

Defense officials said that they were still trying to untangle the chain of events that led to the episode. Of particular note, they said, was the question of how the military lost contact with not one, but two boats. Several officials noted that the crew members were relatively young, junior enlisted sailors.

For now, questions about the incident itself seemed secondary to how it was resolved. While the countries still have a long way to go before normalizing relations, analysts say a less charged atmosphere that allowed the speedy resolution is a reflection of changing priorities in Tehran and Washington.

“The top leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran is not looking for any tension with America,” said Nader Karimi Joni, a journalist aligned with Iran’s reformists who once served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he added, the “whole system sought tension.”

He continued: “Now, things have changed. Both sides, America and Iran, are in direct contact and they seek détente. Currently there is no need for anti-Americanism.”

The sailors’ release was announced shortly before 10 a.m. on an Iranian state-run news channel, IRINN. “The detained U.S. sailors, after it was realized that their entry into Iran’s territorial waters was unintentional, and after the sailors apologized, were released into international waters in the Persian Gulf,” the channel reported, attributing the statement to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The United States Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain confirmed the release, saying in a statement that there were “no indications that the sailors were harmed during their brief detention” and that the Navy would “investigate the circumstances that led to the sailors’ presence in Iran.”

The sailors were being flown to an American military facility in Qatar, where they were to be debriefed and given medical exams, a senior Defense Department official said.

The defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, released a statement commending the “timely way in which this situation was resolved” and thanked Mr. Kerry “for his diplomatic engagement with Iran to secure our sailors’ swift return.”

The quick release of the sailors stands in sharp contrast to the episode eight years ago involving the British marines, which developed into a major international standoff.

In 2007, 15 British marines were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards Navy, which accused them of entering Iranian waters. The sailors were held for 13 days before the government of Mr. Ahmadinejad, then the president, set them free during a televised farewell ceremony in which they were given new suits and carpets as parting gifts.

A prominent conservative Iranian analyst with ties to the senior leadership emphasized that in the current incident, both sides had sought to keep tensions low.

“This time, the Americans were cooperative in proving their innocence, and they quickly accepted their faults without resistance,” the analyst, Hamidreza Taraghi, said in a phone interview. “The sailors apologized for having strayed into Iranian waters.”

Also playing a role was the strong relationship that has developed between Mr. Kerry and the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, during negotiations on the nuclear deal, Mr. Taraghi said.

“John Kerry and Zarif were on the phone during the past hours, and this helped the problem to be resolved quickly due to their direct contact,” he said.

Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff, said that it was too early to draw “big lessons” from the episode, but that it was clear the rapport Mr. Kerry has developed with Mr. Zarif was crucial to resolving it.

“Secretary Kerry’s aggressive and early engagement in this, and open channel that he had and he has with his foreign minister counterpart is important,” Mr. McDonough said on Wednesday at a breakfast with reporters in Washington. “I do think that the open lines of communication, which are relatively new, are extraordinarily important.”

The detention and release of the sailors comes at a particularly delicate moment in the American-Iranian relationship, just days before a nuclear deal is to be formally put in place, under which the United States is to unfreeze about $100 billion in Iranian assets.

That step is to be made after international nuclear inspectors verify that Iran has shipped 98 percent of its nuclear fuel out of the country, has disabled and removed centrifuges, and has taken a large plutonium reactor permanently offline.

On Wednesday, inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Iran to oversee the decommissioning of the Arak heavy-water reactor, which is capable of producing plutonium that could be used to make a nuclear weapon. The removal of the reactor’s core and its replacement with concrete are some of the final steps before the nuclear accord is put in place. The measures are expected to be completed in the next few days, Iranian officials said.

Many American and Middle Eastern officials say they believe that recent actions by the Iranian Navy against American forces in the gulf may be intended to embarrass Mr. Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani. The Revolutionary Guards were responsible for the military side of the nuclear program, and many of its senior officers have objected to the nuclear agreement.

Mr. Rouhani campaigned for office on the promise of getting a nuclear deal and freeing Iran from economic sanctions, and he is said to be anxious to accomplish that before crucial parliamentary elections in February.

Senior American officials said they were still not certain what political dynamic played out in Iran after Mr. Kerry called Mr. Zarif. “You could have imagined a situation in which Zarif told the Iranian military that they were endangering the nuclear deal, and the military said, ‘So what?’ ” a senior American official said. “That didn’t happen. And that’s good news.”

Many Republicans in Congress are as committed as Iran’s hard-liners to short-circuiting the nuclear deal. Mr. Obama issued a veto threat on Monday against a House bill that would delay implementation until the president can certify that Iran has reported all of its past work toward designing a nuclear weapon. International inspectors recently declared that Iran had a program “consistent” with weapons work through 2009, but that it had then ceased. Iran has always denied it ever sought a weapon.

While Mr. Obama and Mr. Rouhani both face opposition from conservatives who want to kill the nuclear deal. But as the current incident suggests, opponents of the deal — in Iran, at least — may be playing a losing hand.

The United States Treasury Department is expected to place some new sanctions on Iran for recent missile tests — which are separate from the nuclear pact — but that effort has been delayed.

誤闖伊朗領海 10美軍獲釋

美國海軍兩艘巡邏艇12日從科威特駛往巴林途中，闖入伊朗領海，10名美國水兵被伊朗扣留。在美國國務卿柯瑞與伊朗外長薩里夫緊急交涉後，伊朗軍方確認其中一艘美國巡邏艇導航系統故障，因而「非故意」誤入伊朗領海，因此在美國水兵道歉後，伊朗將人船一起釋放，整起事件在不到24小時落幕，近期修好的美伊關係通過初步考驗。

美國水兵被伊朗扣留的消息，是在美國總統歐巴馬發表國情咨文前幾小時傳出。美國與伊朗達成核子協議是歐巴馬引以為傲的外交成就，而且預期本周末就要開始「執行」協議，展開對伊朗解除制裁的程序。在此敏感時機發生伊朗扣留美國水兵事件，正好被美國國內反對核子協議的強硬派拿來作文章。

美共和黨總統參選人川普就趁機痛批，指此事件顯示「我們正走入地獄」。

10名水兵，包括9九男1女，被帶到位於波斯灣中間的法西島，伊朗在島上有基地。伊朗革命衛隊網站公布的影片顯示，10人坐在一張波斯地毯上，女水兵還戴了頭巾。伊朗革命衛隊起初指控美國巡邏艇在伊朗領海進行「偵察」，伊朗外長薩里夫要求華府道歉。柯瑞立刻打電話給薩里夫，兩人在核子談判期間建立了私交。

伊朗革命衛隊13日發表聲明：「我們的調查顯示，兩艘美國海軍船隻非故意進入伊朗領海，在船上人員道歉後，將他們帶到公海釋放。」

革命衛隊海軍司令法達威稍早表示，調查發現一艘美國巡邏艇上的導航系統故障。「結論是，美國人通過我們領海並非有敵意或從事間諜話動。」

美國國防部證實水兵已獲釋，且無跡象顯示在拘留期間遭到傷害。美國國防部長卡特對於整起事件得以即時解決感到欣慰。他說：「我要親自向柯瑞國務卿道謝，他與伊朗交涉，讓我們的水兵迅速回來。」2007年，15名英國海軍和陸戰隊在伊朗和伊拉克之間的爭議海域被伊朗扣留，13天後才獲釋。

在伊朗釋放美國水兵後，伊朗官方媒體報導，國際原子能總署對於伊朗履行核子協議的評估報告將於15日出爐，可望在17日之前執行協議，開始解除對伊朗的制裁。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/world/middleeast/iran-navy-crew-release.html

Video：Iran released 10 United States Navy sailors it detained overnight for “trespassing” in its waters.
http://nyti.ms/1OPt87j

Video：Secretary of State John Kerry said the peaceful release of 10 United States Navy sailors was a testament to diplomacy by Iran.
http://nyti.ms/1UP9wR4

Video：A United States Navy sailor apologized after he and nine others entered Iranian waters.
http://nyti.ms/1l6NXiy

Video：The defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, said he was pleased with Iran’s release of 10 United States Navy sailors and thanked Secretary of State John Kerry for his efforts.
http://nyti.ms/1mZR91s

2016-01-14．聯合報．A13．國際．編譯田思怡