Khamenei awards medals to 5 commanders who captured American sailors
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei awarded the country's highest decoration – the Fat'h medal – to the Revolutionary Guard general in charge of the Iranian navy and four other commanders for taking ten American sailors prisoner on January 12.
Iran keeps rubbing our nose in the humiliation, while the administration, for the most part, remains silent.
Iran's supreme leader has awarded medals to five members of the Iranian Navy whom he said "captured intruding" U.S. Navy sailors during a tense incident last month.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei awarded the Order of Fat'h medal to Admiral Ali Fadavi, the head of the navy of the Revolutionary Guards, and four commanders who seized the two U.S. Navy vessels, according to Reuters. Iran's state media reported the news on Sunday.
In a tweet sent from his account Sunday, Khamenei misidentified those who were "captured" as being members of the Marines.
On Jan. 12, Iran captured the 10 sailors whose boats "misnavigated" into Iranian waters, according to Defense Secretary Ash Carter. Though the sailors were released the following day, Iran released video of the sailors being captured, detained and apologizing for the incursion.
Though Iran initially accused the sailors of spying, Fadavi later said an investigation had established the sailors were led astray by "a broken navigation system" and the trespassing was "not hostile or for spying purposes."
The sailors were attempting to navigate from Kuwait to Bahrain when they crossed into Iranian waters.
In one of the more enduring images from the video of the capture, the sailors are shown kneeling on the decks of the boats, with their hands on their heads, all while being watched by armed Iranian troops. Though U.S. officials initially sought to downplay the encounter, Carter recently said the images made him "very, very angry."
It's nice to see at least one administration official express outrage at the incident. Meanwhile, the White House continues to insist that the pictures of Americans kneeling on the deck of their boat with their hands clasped behind their heads isn't humiliating at all.
There has been very little from the Pentagon "investigation" into the incident that led to Americans being captured, and I doubt we'll ever hear what really happened. It will remain as a black mark on the history of the U.S. Navy and an incomprehensible response to an Iranian provocation from the Obama administration.