Ten sailors aboard two US Navy boats were seized by Iran in the Gulf on Tuesday, and Tehran told the US the crew members would be promptly returned, US officials said.
“We have received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe and that they will be allowed to continue their journey promptly,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN.
Two US officials told Reuters that it was unlikely the sailors would be released overnight.
While both sides appeared eager not to let the incident escalate further, it came at a delicate time for US-Iranian relations.
Iran and six world powers forged a landmark nuclear accord last July. Formal implementation of the accord could begin in days following steps Iran agreed to take to curb its nuclear activities.
News of the incident broke as US President Barack Obama prepared to make his final State of the Union address to the US Congress. Mr Obama made the Iran accord a centrepiece of his foreign policy, and Republicans vying to succeed him have assailed him over the deal.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency said: “The Revolutionary Guards naval forces seized the American boats 2km inside Iranian territorial waters while they were snooping around.”
Officials from Iran and the US are negotiating to free the crew, Fars reported. US defence officials said nine men and one woman were aboard the two vessels.
A senior US defence official said they had lost contact earlier in the day with two small craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain.
Another official said mechanical issues may have disabled one of the boats, leading to a situation in which both ships drifted inadvertently into Iranian waters.
Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif assured US Secretary of State John Kerry that the sailors would be allowed to continue their journey promptly, another US official said.
In a statement, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed it seized the boats and said the sailors were safe and well. It said France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was near the seized US boats.
Reuters