REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BEIRUT -- Ten sailors aboard two U.S. Navy boats were seized by Iran in the Gulf on Tuesday (12/1). Tehran told the United States the crew members would be promptly returned, U.S. officials said.

"We have received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe and that they will be allowed to continue their journey promptly," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN.

Two U.S. officials told Reuters that it was unlikely the sailors would be released overnight. While both sides appeared eager not to let the incident escalate further, it came at a delicate time for U.S.-Iranian relations.

Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said: "The Revolutionary Guards naval forces seized the American boats two kilometers inside Iranian territorial waters while they were snooping around."

Officials from Iran and the United States are negotiating to free the crew, Fars reported. U.S. defense officials said nine men and one woman were aboard the two vessels seized.

A senior U.S. defense official said the United States had lost contact earlier in the day with two small craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain.

Another U.S. official said mechanical issues may have disabled one of the boats, leading to a situation in which both ships drifted inadvertently into Iranian waters.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif assured U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the U.S. sailors would be allowed to continue their journey promptly, another U.S. official said.

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