News / Foreign Policy

GOP sought ‘bloody war’ with Iran over sailors: White House

Saturday, 16 January 2016 2:56 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 17 January 2016 5:29 AM ]

US sailors were apprehended by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps after their patrol boats had entered Iranian waters on January 12, 2016.

Iran and the US might have ended up in a “bloody war,” had Washington followed Republican demand to confront Tehran over its detention of trespassing American sailors, says the White House.

Iran took into custody 10 US sailors aboard two CB-90 patrol boats after they reached three miles into the Islamic Republic’s waters on Tuesday.

The sailors, comprised of nine men and one woman, were freed Wednesday, after Americans apologized for the incident, according to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

The Public Relations Office of the IRGC announced the release after determining the sailors had entered Iranian territorial waters by mistake.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Friday that “we've been pretty transparent about this, and we've been transparent about the fact if we followed the advice of some of the Republican critics of the administration we'd probably be in a bloody war with Iran right now over our sailors.”

“The fact is our sailors right now are out of harm’s way, their boats were released and there was no loss of life,” Earnest added.

“It’s unclear to me, by the way, exactly how the safety and security of the United States or our men and women in uniform is advanced by starting a war with a nation like Iran that has an advanced military," he further explained.

In a statement issued shortly after the release of the sailors, US Secretary of State John Kerry thanked Iran for allowing the servicemen to return home.

Republicans, meanwhile, seized the opportunity to scrutinize President Barack Obama’s leadership, urging him to delay the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal.

The topic was also brought up by multiple Republican candidates during their sixth televised presidential debate on Thursday.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said he watched the capture with construction workers who "had tears pouring down their face."

"It was a terrible sight, a terrible sight," Trump said. "And the only reason we got them back was because we owed them with a stupid deal, $150 billion."

Senator Ted Cruz kicked off the event by addressing the incident, criticizing Obama for not pointing out the issue in his last State of the Union address.

"We were horrified to see the sight of ten American sailors on their knees with their hands on their heads. In that State of the Union, President Obama didn’t so much as mention the ten sailors that had been captured by Iran," the Senator said.

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