Following the ship’s seizure, Portugal summoned Iran’s ambassador to demand its fast launch.

Tehran:

Iran mentioned Saturday it will launch the crew members of a Portuguese-flagged ship that its forces seized this month within the Gulf.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps took over the MSC Aries with 25 crew members on board close to the Strait of Hormuz on April 13.

Tehran later mentioned the ship belonged to its arch-foe Israel and was being investigated for alleged violations of worldwide maritime regulation. 

“The humanitarian challenge of the discharge of the ship’s crew is of nice concern to us,” Iran’s Overseas Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian mentioned in a telephone name together with his Portuguese counterpart Paulo Rangel.

“We’ve got given consular entry to their ambassadors in Tehran and introduced to the envoys that the crew members shall be launched and extradition,” he was quoted as saying in an announcement from his ministry, with out elaborating.

Following the ship’s seizure, Portugal summoned Iran’s ambassador to demand its fast launch.

On April 18, India mentioned one of many 17 Indian crew members had returned house and that the others have been granted consular entry.

“They’re in good well being, and they aren’t going through any issues on the ship. As for his or her return, there are some technicalities concerned in it,” an Indian overseas ministry spokesman mentioned on Thursday.

The ship’s seizure occurred hours earlier than Iran carried out its first-ever direct assault on Israel, launching tons of of drones and missiles.

The Israeli army mentioned almost all the projectiles have been intercepted.

Israel and america have denounced the seizure of the ship as an act of “piracy”.

Regional tensions have soared since conflict broke out almost seven months in the past between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas within the Gaza Strip.

(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)