U.S. Congressman: Iran's Treatment of Detained Sailors Was Shocking

A member of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee claimed in an interview published on Monday, May 15, that the details of "Iran's behavior" towards several detained American sailors would be "shocking" to the American public. This claim was made based on an interview that Randy Forbes, a Republican representative, had with the conservative website "Washington Free Beacon". Forbes also stated that disclosing these details would pose a challenge for the U.S. government, which he believes has handled this incident poorly. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced in January that ten American sailors, including nine men and one woman, were detained in the waters of the Persian Gulf. In their statement, the IRGC mentioned that they had "Islamic interactions" with the detained sailors, who spent one day in custody. However, Iranian state television aired footage of one of the sailors crying, which provoked a strong reaction from the U.S. Navy. Now, Randy Forbes claims that based on a "complete and confidential" report from military officials that he has access to, the details of Iran's treatment of these sailors are shocking and would shock the American people if they were aware of them. According to Forbes, the Obama administration is trying to keep the full details of the IRGC's behavior with these sailors secret and confidential. He also noted that it would take "a year or more" to publish a complete report on this incident in the Persian Gulf. The new claim about the detention of American sailors in southern Iranian waters comes less than a week after the U.S. Navy officially announced that the commander of the ten sailors had been relieved of duty due to command failures and multiple errors in the hours leading up to the incident. U.S. officials had previously stated that nine male sailors and one female sailor aboard two U.S. Navy patrol boats entered Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf on January 12 due to veering off their predetermined course and were detained by IRGC forces. The occupants of these two Riverine boats were en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. The U.S. Fifth Fleet is stationed in Bahrain.