Iran Releases Seized South Korean Tanker
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry announced that Iran has released the impounded tanker of this country along with its captain and 12 crew members. The ship was carrying 7,200 tons of oil products and had been seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps near the Strait of Hormuz.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement announcing that the oil tanker “Hankook Chemi” left the Port of Bandar Abbas on Friday morning, April 20 (April 9). According to Seoul officials, the ship’s captain and 12 crew members have also been released.
The Hankook Chemi tanker, carrying 7,200 tons of oil products, was seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on December 5 under the pretext of “violating Persian Gulf biological protocol” near the Strait of Hormuz. The ship had 20 crew members.
At that time, it was stated that the main objective of seizing the Hankook Chemi tanker in the Persian Gulf was to pressure South Korea to release Iran’s frozen assets in the country.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry statement regarding the release of the ship and its captain did not provide information about the payment of Iran’s blocked assets in the country. One official from the ministry told media that the release of the ship took place after negotiations regarding the 7 billion dollars of Iran’s frozen funds.
South Korean media reported that Chang Sae-kyun, the prime minister of the country, will travel to Tehran soon, but the date of this visit has not yet been determined.
In a statement by South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, it was stated that the captain and crew of the ship are in good health.
South Korea had repeatedly announced that it is ready to pay its debt to Iran, but due to United States sanctions against Iran’s financial and banking activities, it is unable to do so.
The Iranian government in early February had allowed the crew of the ship, except for the captain, to leave the vessel, but some crew members remained on deck for maintenance and repairs.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry at that time called the release of the crew of the South Korean tanker a “humanitarian action.”
The crew of this oil tanker were citizens of Indonesia, Myanmar, South Korea, and Vietnam.
Source: DW
