Following the seizure of the ship, Portugal called on the Iranian ambassador to demand its immediate release.
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 Guards took over the MSC Aries with 25 crew members on board near the Strait of Hormuz on April 13.
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 telephone conversation with his Portuguese counterpart Paulo Rangel.
“We have granted consular access to their ambassadors in Tehran and announced to the envoys that the crew members will be released and extradited,” he said in a statement from his ministry, without elaborating.
Following the seizure of the ship, Portugal called on the Iranian ambassador to demand its immediate release.
On April 18, India said one of the 17 Indian crew members had returned home and the others had been granted consular access.
“They are in good health and have no problems on the ship. As for their return, there are some technical details involved,” an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Thursday.
The ship's seizure came hours before Iran carried out its first-ever direct attack on Israel, launching hundreds of drones and missiles.
The Israeli military said almost all the projectiles had been intercepted.
Israel and the United States have denounced the ship's seizure as an act of “piracy.”
Regional tensions have soared since war erupted between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip almost seven months ago.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
