--- title: Iran Says It Has Retrieved U.S. Intel From Sailors' Devices description: Iran said it has recovered thousands of pages worth of intelligence from devices used by U.S. Navy sailors who were detained in January. canonical: https://time.com/4260304/iran-us-intel-sailor-devices/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-15T22:58:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:22:19.729Z article:section: World og:title: Iran Says It Retrieved Intel From Detained U.S. Sailors' Devices og:description: The sailors were briefly detained in January og:url: https://time.com/4260304/iran-us-intel-sailor-devices/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17143148ef5fd884/69888b1bcd1bba45056ffdb9/iran-sailors.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: iran-sailors og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Iran Says It Retrieved Intel From Detained U.S. Sailors' Devices twitter:description: The sailors were briefly detained in January twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17143148ef5fd884/69888b1bcd1bba45056ffdb9/iran-sailors.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Iran Says It Retrieved U.S. Intel From Detained Sailors' Devices  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Mar 15, 2016 10:58 PM CUT  This picture released by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency on Jan. 13, 2016, shows detention of American Navy sailors by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, Iran. This picture released by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency on Jan. 13, 2016, shows detention of American Navy sailors by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, Iran.IRIB—AP  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Mar 15, 2016 10:58 PM CUT Iran claims it has [recovered thousands of pages worth of intelligence](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a516b236b8c349599c27f29b5c493a43/iran-says-it-recovers-information-us-sailors-devices "undefined") from devices used by the U.S. Navy sailors who were briefly detained in January. The country’s state television reported Tuesday that the 13,000 pages of information came from laptops, GPS devices and maps, according to the Associated Press. It’s unclear what the information contained, but the Iranian Revolutionary Guard plans to publish a book on the incident based on international reactions and coverage of the event, Gen. Ali Razmjou, a naval commander in the Guard, said in the report. [In January](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/78c98f06474d4481bcb9c50f43d0cb0a/pentagon-2-us-navy-boats-held-iran-will-be-returned "undefined"), Iran held 10 U.S. Navy sailors overnight at an Iranian base after their two small boats drifted into Iranian waters after experiencing mechanical problems. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/a516b236b8c349599c27f29b5c493a43/iran-says-it-recovers-information-us-sailors-devices "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4260304/iran-us-intel-sailor-devices/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4260304/iran-us-intel-sailor-devices/"},"headline":"Iran Says It Retrieved U.S. Intel From Detained Sailors' Devices","datePublished":"2016-03-15T22:58:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:22:19.729Z","description":"The sailors were briefly detained in January","url":"https://time.com/4260304/iran-us-intel-sailor-devices/","keywords":["Iran"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17143148ef5fd884/69888b1bcd1bba45056ffdb9/iran-sailors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt17143148ef5fd884/69888b1bcd1bba45056ffdb9/iran-sailors.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"iran-sailors","caption":"This picture released by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency on Jan. 13, 2016, shows detention of American Navy sailors by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf, Iran.","creditText":"IRIB—AP","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/4260304/iran-us-intel-sailor-devices/","name":"Iran Says It Retrieved U.S. Intel From Detained Sailors' Devices"}}]}] ```