Baku, Azerbaijan, May 7
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran has released a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel seized by Islamic Republic forces as it traversed the Strait of Hormuz last month.
An informed source in Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization has confirmed that the Islamic Republic has released Maersk ship on May 7, the country's official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran says that the commercial ship was seized over a legal dispute between an Iranian company and the Danish shipping line Maersk.
It was earlier reported that an Iranian court ordered selling the ship in order to pay $10 million compensation to Iranian Pars Talaeyeh Oil Products Company.
Hamid Reza Jahanian, the managing director of the company said May 6 that the ship and its cargo would be sold unless the Danish shipping company pays $10 million in losses that his company has suffered.
On April 28 Iranian forces boarded the ship after firing warning shots across the bridge and later took it to Bandar Abbas, the main port of Iran's navy, under escort by Iranian patrol boats.
Danish shipping company Maersk Line, which chartered the container ship from Rickmers Ship Management in Singapore, insisted it had no "special cargo" such as military equipment.
Maersk Line spokesman Michael Storgaard said May 6 that the company had a "constructive dialogue with the Iranian courts" and was working toward "the safe release of the crew and vessel".
Following the Maersk incident, Washington adopted a policy change, allowing any US-flagged ship to be accompanied by US Navy warships through the Hormuz strait, which includes Iranian territorial waters.
Edited by CN
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