The owner of the British-flagged Stena Impero oiled tanker that was seized by Iran on July 20 has confirmed that seven crew members would be released soon by Iranian authorities. Erik Hannel, who is CEO of the Swedish shipping group Stena Bulk, added that he was "awaiting more information about when they will be safely transported out of the country."
Reported by Iranian Mehr News Agency, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said, “The captain has decided to choose seven Indian crew members in a way that it would not harm their duties [in the ship] and to adopt measures to let them out. These individuals can soon leave the country.”
The statement comes as Iran’s Foreign Ministry confirmed on state television that the captives had left the ship. In total, Iran had arrested 23 crew members from the Stena Impero, out of which 18 are Indian with the remaining member including Russian, Latvian and Filipino personnel. The 16 remaining crew members will stay onboard the ship as part of the Minimum Safe Manning Certificate (MSMC).
Prior to the release, Stena Bulk had tweeted, “We understand that our long-standing request to remove non-essential personnel from Stena Impero is now being acted upon by the Iranian Government and that arrangements are underway for the release of seven crewmembers.”
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) gained consular access to the sailors in July, confirming that they were safe.
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Iran had seized the tanker in retaliation to British Royal Marines in Gibraltar seizing an Iranian vessel named the Grace I, with 24 Indians onboard. While the UK seized the Grace I on the pretext that it was en route to Syria in defiance of international sanctions, Iran seized the Stena Impero on charges of colliding with an Iranian vessel and of violating international maritime rules.
As diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Iran deteriorated, the UK released the Grace I in August in the face of US pressure to continue detaining the ship. Iran had then declined to offer commitments that the ship would not sail to Syria in exchange for their its release. The Grace I was renamed to the Adrian Darya soon after. on Septmber 3, news agencies reported that the ship had turned off its transponder while off the Syrian coast.
In mid-August, IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said that “there is no relation between the release of Grace 1 from Gibraltar and the British oil tanker detained by IRGC.”
The move comes as a weekend deadline approaches for Europe to come up with a deal to purchase Iranian oil in the aftermath of US sanctions, barring which, Iran is expected to scale back its commitments to the now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal.
For this, the EU would have to circumvent US sanctions, a move that Iran anticipates. Iran has also expressed interest in a French credit line that would bring the country economic relief. The US, however, has refused to waive sanctions to permit this, with a senior US official on Wednesday telling reporters “We can't make it any more clear that we are committed to this campaign of maximum pressure and we are not looking to grant any exceptions or waivers.” The official added that there was still no concrete French proposal and that he could not comment on it as a result.