As Chavez, Ahmadinejad Taunt, Threaten USA, Americans Come to Aid of Iranian Mariners- AGAIN

USCG Monomoy seen during an earlier deployment to the Persian Gulf

To quote Mandy Manners from C2, "We're getting good at staging these things".

While Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadeinejad was yukking it up with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez in Caracas this week and an Iranian court handed down a death penalty to an American accused of spying, American sailors once again came to the aid of an Iranian-flagged vessel in distress.

For the second time in as many weeks, the U.S. Navy has rescued distressed Iranian sailors, despite the extremely high tensions between the two nations.

According to the Navy's account, at about 3 a.m. local time an American Coast Guard patrol boat in the north Persian Gulf was hailed by flares and flashlights from an Iranian cargo ship whose engine room was flooding. Six Iranians were rescued from the ship, fed halal meals in accordance with Islamic law, and later taken to shore.

"Saving lives is the last thing you expect to do at [3 a.m.] while patrolling in the Northern Arabian Gulf, but being in the Coast Guard, that's what we are trained to do," Boatswain Mate 2nd Class Emily Poole said in a Navy statement, using an alternate designation for the Persian Gulf.

After the Iranian regime's lukewarm reaction to 13 Iranian fishermen freed by the US Navy after being abducted by Somali pirates, the captain of an Iranian Coast Guard vessel assigned to pick up the half dozen mariners was much quicker to thank his American counterparts.

The U.S. Navy said the captain of the Naji 7, through a translator, "Sends his regards and thanks to our Captain and all crewmembers for assisting, and taking care of the Iranian sailors. Wishes us the best, and thanks us for our cooperation."

Both rescues come amid heightened tensions between the USA and the Islamic republic after Iran threatened to close off the straits of Hormuz, a vital shipping channel at the easternmost tip of the Arabian peninsula that's less than 35 miles wide.