Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio barely had time to feign outrage and accuse the President of being weak before it was over, and the sailors and their boats were returning home. Oh well.


Iran’s Swift Release of U.S. Sailors Hailed as a Sign of Warmer Relations

WASHINGTON — A crisis over the seizing of two American patrol boats in the Persian Gulf was averted Wednesday when Iran returned the craft and released their crews as Pentagon officials struggled to explain how the boats had ended up near a major Iranian naval base.

Their quick release was hailed by the Obama administration as an unintended benefit of the new diplomatic relationship with Iran established by the nuclear accord negotiated between Tehran and the United States and five other nations in July. The accord is expected to go into effect next week, ending the oil and financial sanctions imposed on Iran over the past decade, and giving it access to around $100 billion in frozen funds.

Thanking the Iranians for their cooperation, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that “we can all imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago.”

Mr. Kerry negotiated the release in at least five phone calls with Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister. Senior American officials described the American-educated Mr. Zarif as clearly worried that the episode could sink the nuclear accord on which he and President Hassan Rouhani have staked their legacies.

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The quick release of the sailors was in sharp contrast to an episode almost nine years ago, involving Britain, that turned into a major international standoff.

In March 2007, as the United Nations was just beginning sanctions against Iran, 15 British marines were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards Navy, which accused them of entering Iranian waters. The marines were held for 13 days before the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then the Iranian 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 episode, both sides had sought to keep tensions low.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/world/middleeast/iran-navy-crew-release.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news