The British oil tanker Stena Impero, captured in the Strait of Hormuz in Iran since mid-July, has picked up speed and is heading for international waters. The news agency Reuters reported and relied on a text message from the Swedish shipowner.
Already on Monday it had been called from the presidential office in Tehran, the ship is released. The legal investigations have been completed and the violations of the ship "forgave," said government spokesman Ali Rabiei.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards had arrested the ship on July 19 on charges of violating the law of the sea in the Persian Gulf. Seven of the 23 crewmembers had already been released in early September, for humanitarian reasons, as Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Whether all other crew members are now on the outgoing ship, was initially unclear.
Britain suspects behind the fixing of a retaliatory action
After the end of the two-month legal investigations leave the "Stena Impero" now Bandar Abbas, said the Maritime Office of the South Iranian port city, according to the news agency IRNA.
The British government suspected a reaction to a similar incident in Gibraltar, UK, following the establishment of the Stena Impero, where a supertanker of Iranian oil destined for Syria had been put on the chain at the beginning of July. According to the authorities, the delivery violated EU sanctions against the country of war Syria. The reference to the ship, the British had received from the US.
Iran spoke of "piracy" and threatened consequences. In mid-August, the "Adrian Darya-1" was finally released. Suspicions that it was a barter deal to free the "Stena Impero" London vehemently rejected.
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.
