In a meeting with the IRGC Navy officers who captured the US marines in the Persian Gulf a couple of weeks ago, the Leader described the move as “admirable, courageous, and faithful”.
“Your move was very excellent, interesting, and timely,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, adding that it was a “divine” act that took Americans to Iran’s territorial waters so that the Iranian forces arrest them with their “hands on their heads”.
Earlier, in a Wednesday meeting with a group of executive officials in Tehran, the Leader had appreciated the IRGC’s move and noted that the Iranian forces showed the country’s might and identity in dealing with the enemy’s aggression.
The IRGC officers on January 12 captured 10 US Navy sailors who had trespassed Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.
One day later, the IRGC Public Relations in a statement said the sailors were freed following an apology from the US and after technical and operational investigations indicated that the intrusion into Iranian territorial waters was “unintentional”.