| Crew Members of Stena Impero, a British-flagged vessel owned by Stena Bulk, are seen at undisclosed place off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran |
The British-flagged Stena Impero tanker left Iran’s Bandar Abbas port on Friday after being detained since July by Iranian forces and was heading towards international waters.
The Stena Impero was seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the Strait of Hormuz waterway for alleged marine violations two weeks after Britain detained an Iranian tanker off the territory of Gibraltar. The Iranian ship was released in August.
“The ship is on the move,” Erik Hanell, the chief executive of the ship’s owner, Sweden’s Stena Bulk, told Reuters in a text message. “We will comment further when the ship reaches international waters.”
The vessel was heading for Dubai’s Port Rashid in the United Arab Emirates, about 250 km (155 miles) away, Refinitiv tracking data showed. At normal tanker speed, it would reach that destination within half a day.
Iran’s seizure of the ship on July 19 ratcheted up tensions in the region after attacks in May and June on other merchant vessels in Gulf waters, which Washington blamed on Tehran. Iran has denied responsibility.
The Ports and Maritime Organisation of Iran in Hormozgan Province said in a statement that the ship had begun moving from Bandar Abbas at 9am Iran time (0530 GMT) on Friday and said it was heading towards international waters.
It said the judicial file on the vessel was still open and the process of looking into “violations” by the ship continued.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry had said on Wednesday that the detention order had been lifted but the investigation continued.
Stena Bulk said on Wednesday it was not in negotiations with Iran and said was not aware of any formal charges against the crew or the company.
Iran had earlier released seven of the ship’s 23 crew members.
Relations between the United States and Iran have become more strained since Washington withdrew last year from a global pact to rein in Tehran’s nuclear programme and imposed sanctions on the country aimed at shutting down Iranian oil exports.
REUTERS