Seized British-flagged tanker leaves Iran
A British-flagged oil tanker has left Iran two months after it was seized for allegedly breaking maritime rules.
Stena Bulk – Stena Impero’s Swedish owner – said on Friday it was on the move from the Bandar Abbas port, where it had been anchored since July 20.
The vessel was taken in the Strait of Hormuz two weeks after an Iranian tanker was held off Gibraltar with the help of the UK Royal Marines.
Tehran has strongly denied that it took the ship as an act of retaliation.
Erik Hanell, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Stena Bulk, said the Stena Impero would head to Dubai, where the crew would be debriefed and receive medical checks.
“Full support will be offered to the crew and families in the coming weeks to assist with their recovery,” he said in a statement.
On July 4, UK forces seized the Iranian tanker Adrian Darya-1 – previously called Grace One – on suspicion of breaking European Union (EU) sanctions on Syria.
After its release, the US blacklisted the vessel, pledging to impose sanctions on any buyer of the 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil on board.
Iran announced in September that the ship had sold its cargo, prompting UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to summon Tehran’s ambassador to the Foreign Office.
The Stena Impero was passing through international waters in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that connects the Gulf and the Indian Ocean, on July 19, when it was detained by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps.
Iran accused the vessel of colliding with a fishing boat and failing to respond to calls, but the ship’s owners said there was no evidence.
The UK said it deployed a Royal Navy frigate to come to the tanker’s aid and warned Iranian authorities that their actions were illegal, but the frigate was unable to reach the scene in time.
The Stena Impero was then transported to the port of Bandar Abbas, where it has remained anchored since.
Seven “non-essential” members of its crew were freed by Iran on humanitarian grounds earlier this month. Sixteen crew members – 13 Indians, two Russians and one Filipino – are thought to be still on board.
The tanker reappeared on online shipping tracking websites on Friday – days after a detention order was lifted. -BBC