Iran on Saturday applauded the US's rescue of 13 Iranians held hostage for weeks by pirates in the Arabian Sea, calling it a "humanitarian and positive" act.
The rescue operation took place on Thursday by the same US aircraft carrier group that Iran warned not to return to the Gulf.
Speaking with Iran's Arabic-language broadcaster Al-Alam, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that "we consider the actions of the US forces in saving the lives of Iranian seamen to be a humanitarian and positive act and we welcome such behavior."
"We think all nations should display such behavior," AFP quoted him as saying.
