Iran ‘releases’ seized cargo ship

Ship seized on April 28th by Iranian forces.

Maersk Tigris: Iran ‘releases’ seized cargo ship

Iran has released a container ship it seized in the Strait of Hormuz last week, state media report.

A source at Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organisation was quoted by the official Iran news agency as saying that the Maersk Tigris “was free to leave”.

The Marshall Islands-flagged ship and its crew of 24 were intercepted by Iranian patrol boats on the 28 April.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said it had been detained because of a long-running legal dispute.

The Danish shipping company Maersk, which charters the vessel, had been ordered by an Iranian court to pay damages to a private firm, he said last week.

It is not clear if the dispute has been settled, although an Iranian official was quoted on Wednesday as saying that “possibly the issue will be resolved in a day or two”.

The seizure of the ship in one of the world’s major shipping lanes threatened to turn into an international incident.

The US sent the destroyer USS Farragut to the area to monitor the situation.

Maersk said its ship was in an international shipping lane when it was detained, but Tehran insisted it had been in Iranian waters.

Source: bbc.co.uk