--- title: Iran Seizes U.S. Sailors: Watch the Video description: Iran has since released the sailors canonical: https://time.com/4179473/iran-sailors-navy-detained-video/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-13T19:08:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:06:03.166Z article:section: World og:title: Video Captures Moment When Iran Detained U.S. Sailors og:description: Iran has since released the sailors og:url: https://time.com/4179473/iran-sailors-navy-detained-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte62dab13cc672aa1/698878fe8e0601b0984641e3/arrest-iran-su-soldiers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: U.S. sailors are pictured on a boat with their hands on their heads at an unknown location og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Video Captures Moment When Iran Detained U.S. Sailors twitter:description: Iran has since released the sailors twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte62dab13cc672aa1/698878fe8e0601b0984641e3/arrest-iran-su-soldiers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Video Captures Moment When Iran Detained U.S. Sailors by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 13, 2016 7:08 PM CUT  U.S. sailors are pictured on a boat with their hands on their heads at an unknown location in this still image taken from video taken January 12-13, 2016. U.S. sailors are pictured on a boat with their hands on their heads at an unknown location in this still image taken from video taken January 12-13, 2016.Reuters TV by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 13, 2016 7:08 PM CUT Video footage from Iranian state TV shows the moment [10 U.S. sailors were detained for being in Iranian waters](http://time.com/4178087/iran-seizes-10-u-s-sailors/ "undefined"). The footage, obtained by [CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/13/politics/iran-us-sailors/ "undefined"), shows the sailors kneeling with their hands held behind their heads, all facing the same direction. The sailors were released on Wednesday, a day after being taken into Iranian custody—a process experts say was expedited by renewed relations between the U.S. and Iran. “These are always situations which, as everybody here knows, have an ability if not properly guided to get out of control,” Secretary of State John Kerry [said](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/world/middleeast/iran-navy-crew-release.html "undefined") on Wednesday, adding, “I think we can all imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4179473/iran-sailors-navy-detained-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4179473/iran-sailors-navy-detained-video/"},"headline":"Video Captures Moment When Iran Detained U.S. Sailors","datePublished":"2016-01-13T19:08:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:06:03.166Z","description":"Iran has since released the sailors","url":"https://time.com/4179473/iran-sailors-navy-detained-video/","keywords":["Iran"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte62dab13cc672aa1/698878fe8e0601b0984641e3/arrest-iran-su-soldiers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte62dab13cc672aa1/698878fe8e0601b0984641e3/arrest-iran-su-soldiers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. sailors are pictured on a boat with their hands on their heads at an unknown location","caption":"U.S. sailors are pictured on a boat with their hands on their heads at an unknown location","creditText":"Reuters TV","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iran/","name":"Iran"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4179473/iran-sailors-navy-detained-video/","name":"Video Captures Moment When Iran Detained U.S. Sailors"}}]}] ```