Could be. This just doesn’t add up. It makes no sense that two boats with twin screws would be disabled simultaneously.
I wouldn’t be surprised, mind you... if the orders came down to surrender rather than skedaddle or fight; it’s just that people need to find the Ghomert interview and read it for themselves, rather than rely on someone’s interpretation of one lone sentence in it. I haven’t had time to trace back to the interview or I’d link it.
Since both boats were not down , let’s say they were ordered not to fire warning shots to deter the Iranians ... why didn’t they abandon the disabled craft, scuttle it to whatever degree is possible , and get out of there on one? Unless they were told this was ‘help’ and drank the Kool Aide about ‘peace in our time’ with Iran. I don’t like seeing US personnel taking stupid chances with a hostage-taking nation. Let the State Dept try to ransom an empty boat instead if they want.