WASHINGTON — The Navy on Thursday reassigned the officer who commanded the 10 sailors who were detained by Iran in January after their boats strayed into its territorial waters, the service said in a statement.
The
officer, Cmdr. Eric Rasch, was relieved of his duties because the Navy
had lost “confidence in his ability to command,” the statement said.
The
Navy said the decision was made after a preliminary investigation, but
it provided no other details. It is expected to release the findings of
the inquiry in the coming weeks. Some of the sailors are expected to be
reprimanded.
On
Jan. 12, two patrol boats that were being moved to Bahrain from Kuwait
came within a few miles of Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf, the home of
an Iranian military base, after making a navigational error, Defense
Secretary Ashton B. Carter said that month.
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