Washington claims two riverine command boats carrying 10 naval crew were travelling from Kuwait to Bahrain on a training exercise when the incident occurred.

US naval officials said one of the boats appeared to have suffered a mechanical problem which led the boats to drift into Iranian territorial waters around Farsi Island.

Iran’s Fars News Agency said the crews had been taken to an Iranian naval base on the island after illegally straying more than a mile into its waters, and accused the crews of ‘snooping.’

After high-level communication between the two sides following the soldiers’ detention, US officials said they expected the crews to be released “in the next few hours.”

S/SH