Iran on Wednesday released the 10 United States Navy sailors it had detained on Tuesday after two American boats wandered into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf. The US Navy said the crewmembers returned safely and there were no indications they had been harmed while in custody, reported AP. The nine men and one woman were being held at an Iranian base on Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf.

The boats were on a trip from Kuwait to Bahrain when they wandered near Farsi island. The sailors were released after the naval commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, General Ali Fadavi, said he was satisfied a mechanical failure was behind the incursion.

The incident created a worldwide stir, with the US expected to implement a landmark nuclear deal with Iran over the next few months, Reuters reported. However, the US claimed that the incident was not hostile.

The incident took place hours before President Barack Obama made his final State of the Union address to the US Congress. Obama had pitched his nuclear deal with Iran as the prime achievement of his foreign policy, so the detainment of 10 US sailors could well be seen as an attempt to derail the progress made between the two countries.