The Iranian government says it has released the crew of a seized Portuguese-flagged ship linked to Israel, though it continues to hold the vessel itself seized last month.
The country’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said the crew of the Portuguese-flagged container ship MSC Aries can return to their respective home countries.
The minister claimed the release of the crew of 25 was a “humanitarian act”, while the ship itself remains under “judicial detention.”
The MSC Aries was seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) in the strategic Strait of Hormuz on April 13, shortly after Iran threatened to close the vital shipping route in retaliation for a widely-believed Israeli airstrike on its purported consulate in Damascus.
According to Amir-Abdollahian, the vessel was detained because it “turned off its radar in Iran’s territorial waters and jeopardized the security of navigation,” the foreign ministry explained in a statement posted on X late Thursday night.
The regime has seized several vessels since 2019 in what some say is a way for Tehran to show its naval might – and to keep pressure on different governments.
The foreign ministry previously cited “violations of maritime laws” as the reason for the Aries’ seizure and emphasized its links to Israel. The MSC leases the Aries from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, partially owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.
The seize of the vessel is part of a broader pattern of maritime disruptions, including recent attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The attacks, which were reportedly conducted in solidarity with Palestinians amidst Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, are contributing to significant perturbations in global shipping operations.
