Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement today on the Obama Administration’s response to Iran’s detainment of 10 U.S. sailors:

“A day after Iran seized two U.S. Navy vessels and ‘arrested’ ten American sailors, Obama administration officials seem to be falling over themselves to offer praise for Iran’s graciousness in detaining our ships and service members. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the sailors were offered ‘the proper courtesy that you would expect.’ Secretary of State John Kerry offered his ‘gratitude to Iranian authorities for their cooperation in swiftly resolving this matter.’ This Administration’s craven desire to preserve the dangerous Iranian nuclear deal at all costs evidently knows no limit.

“The Administration is pretending as if nothing out of the ordinary has occurred. Vice President Joe Biden described the incident as ‘standard nautical practice.’ That assertion is patently false. What’s worse, by failing to affirm basic principles of international law, it places our Navy and Coast Guard vessels and the men and women who sail them at increased risk in the future.

“Under international law, sovereign immune vessels like navy ships and boats do not lose their sovereign immune status when they are in distress at sea.  Under international law, sovereign immune naval vessels are exempt from detention, boarding, or search. Their crews are not subject to detention or arrest.

“Furthermore, the suggestion by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and others that the Iranian nuclear deal somehow aided in these sailors’ return is ludicrous. These sailors were ‘arrested’ in apparent violation of international law and centuries of maritime custom and tradition. Moreover, I doubt the four Americans still languishing in Iranian prisons and their families take great solace in assertions that this new diplomatic relationship with Iran ‘has served us well.’”

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