Iran has released seven crew members of a Portuguese-flagged container ship seized in the Gulf on 13 April, according to a statement by Lisbon on Thursday. Seventeen of the 25-member crew still remain on board as Tehran accuses the ship of being associated with Israel.
Five of the freed crew members are from India, while the others are from Philippines and Estonia, the Portuguese government stated.
The Foreign Ministry also noted that one Indian woman had already left the cargo vessel, as announced by Iran on 18 April.
On 27 April, Tehran indicated that it was considering releasing the remaining crew members from the container ship MSC Aries, which was commandeered by the Guardians of the Revolution, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic.
The incident had transpired just hours before an unprecedented attack launched by Iran with drones and missiles against Israel, in retaliation for an airstrike attributed to Israel that resulted in the death of seven Guardian officers in Damascus.
Iran has accused the vessel of breaching “international maritime regulations” and claimed that it “belonged to the Zionist regime.”
On 16 April, the Portuguese Foreign Ministry had called in the Iranian ambassador to Lisbon to demand the “immediate release” of the ship and its crew.
“We are deeply concerned about the release of the ship’s crew on humanitarian grounds,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated ten days ago during a phone call with his Portuguese counterpart, Paulo Rangel, according to an announcement released by Tehran.
Lisbon commended the partial liberation of the crew on Thursday, reiterating its demand for the “immediate release” of the remaining 17 members still on board the MSC Aries, and of the ship itself.
Source: Hellenic Shipping News
