Iran says crew of seized ship will be released

Tehran:

Iran said on Saturday it would release the crew members of a Portuguese-flagged ship that its forces seized in the Gulf this month.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps captured MSC Aries along with 25 crew members near the Strait of Hormuz on 13 April.

Tehran later said the ship belonged to its arch-enemy Israel and was being investigated for alleged violations of international maritime law.

“The humanitarian issue of the release of the ship’s crew is of great concern to us,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a phone call with his Portuguese counterpart Paulo Rangel.

“We have provided consular access to their ambassadors in Tehran and have announced to the envoys that the crew members will be released and extradited,” he was quoted as saying in a statement from his ministry, without elaborating.

Following the seizure of the ship, Portugal summoned Iran’s ambassador to demand its immediate release.

On 18 April, India said that one of the 17 Indian crew members had returned home and the others had been granted consular access.

“They are in good health and are not facing any problems on board the ship. As far as their return is concerned, there are some technicalities involved,” an Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.

The seizure of the ship came hours before Iran launched its first direct attack on Israel, launching hundreds of drones and missiles.

The Israeli military said almost all of the projectiles were intercepted.

Israel and the United States have condemned the seizure of the ship as an act of “piracy”.

Regional tensions have increased since war broke out in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas nearly seven months ago.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)