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 returnto 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."
