Iran Awards Captors of US Sailors with Medals

Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Saturday conferred a badge of honor on IRGC Navy Commander Rear-Admiral Ali Fadavi and four other Navy commanders for capturing of US marines in the Persian Gulf waters.

The Supreme Leader also ordered the promotion of other commanders and personnel involved in the Navy operation to capture the US marines for "violating Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf."

Iran freed the ten U.S. sailors on Jan. 13, a day after detaining them aboard the two U.S. Navy patrol boats in the Gulf, bringing a swift end to an incident that had rattled nerves shortly before the expected implementation of the nuclear accord with world powers.

The Revolutionary Guards had said the patrol boats had entered Iranian territorial waters by mistake.