Bucking the trend of the currently-escalating U.S.-Iran tensions, the American Navy has rescued a 13-member crew of an Iranian fishing boat who had been held hostage by Somalian pirates for 40 days. "We don’t know what the Iranians know about this incident,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, a Navy captain, told reporters Friday morning. But here's what we do know: the Navy issued a release this morning, explaining that a team from the aircraft carrier strike group that Iran had earlier threatened received a distress call from the Iranian fishing ship Al Molai in the northern Arabian Sea on Thursday. In response, the U.S. Navy team boarded the ship and detained 15 pirates who had been holding the 13-member Iranian crew hostage. NPR adds that a Navy official says the crew was provided with "food, water and medical care." And though the fishing boat captain has expressed his gratitude, there haven't been any "thank you's" from the Iranian government--not that we're expecting any anytime soon. 

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Alexander Abad-Santos