Navy: Coast Guard rescued Iranian mariners - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Navy: Coast Guard rescued Iranian mariners

A Coast Guard cutter rescued six Iranians from a sinking dhow Tuesday in the northern Persian Gulf, the second U.S. rescue of Iranians in a week, according to a 5th Fleet press release.

The rescues come amid rising tensions between the nations.

At 3 a.m. local time, using flashlights and flares, the sinking cargo vessel alerted the patrol boat Monomoy, a 110-foot Island-class cutter forward deployed to Bahrain that had been patrolling nearby. The master of the dhow asked for assistance, saying the engine room was flooding.

The Coast Guardsmen transferred the six Iranians — four of whom had been sitting in a life raft tied astern of their disabled vessel — aboard Monomoy and provided them with blankets, water and halal meals, prepared in accordance with Islamic law. A mariner was also treated for minor injuries.

The master of the Iranian vessel thanked the Coast Guard for their aid.

“Without your help, we were dead,” Hakim Hamid-Awi was quoted as saying in the press release. “Thank you for all that you did for us.”

Roughly an hour and a half after responding, the six mariners were transferred to the Iranian Coast Guard vessel Naji 7 by small boat.

The captain of the Naji 7 “sends his regards and thanks to our captain and crew members for assisting and taking care of the Iranian sailors,” a translator aboard Monomoy said. “Wishes us the best and thanks us for our cooperation.”

It was the second at-sea rescue by U.S. forces in five days. On Jan. 5, a boarding team from the destroyer Kidd freed 13 Iranian mariners who had been taken hostage by 15 Somali pirates. They, too, were grateful.

“It is like you were sent by God,” said the now-freed master, whose crew had been held hostage for six weeks, according to a report by The New York Times.