The British oil tanker Stena Impero, seized in the Strait of Hormuz since mid-July, is allowed to leave Tehran, according to the Iranian presidential office. The legal investigations have been completed and the violations of the ship "forgave," said government spokesman Ali Rabiei.
The local decisions showed that the tanker should be allowed to leave, according to the spokesman Fars. Whether the ship has already left Iran, Rabiei did not say.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards had arrested the ship on July 19 on charges of violating the law of the sea in the Persian Gulf. The legal investigations in the southern Iranian port city Bandar Abbas had lasted 65 days, according to Tehran.
Seven of the 23 crewmembers had already been released in early September, for humanitarian reasons, as Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
In the Persian Gulf, there are always ships and boats that illegally smuggle oil and gas oil into the neighboring Arab Gulf States. Although some of them are set by the Iranian Coast Guard or the Revolutionary Guards, but ships come through again and again. According to Iranian data, this is organized crime and it is therefore difficult to grasp the backers of these smuggling gangs.
