The British-flagged Stena Impero tanker arrived at Dubai’s Port Rashid on Friday after sailing out of Iranian waters, according to Refintiv shipping data, after it was detained in July during a row with Britain that has stoked tensions in the Persian Gulf, Trend reports citing Reuters.
Iran’s foreign ministry said a detention order on the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero was lifted on Wednesday, but added that an investigation into the vessel was ongoing.
Stena Impero, the British-flagged tanker detained by Iran on July 19, will be released soon, an Iranian maritime official said on Sunday.
The British-flagged oil tanker seized by Iran could be released after the imminent completion of legal proceedings against the tanker.
The head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards navy Alireza Tangsiri said to ILNA news agency that the presence of America and Britain in the Persian Gulf region brings insecurity.
An Iranian tanker caught in the standoff between Tehran and the West shifted position on Friday, but its anchor was still down off Gibraltar and it was unclear if it was ready to set sail soon.
The British territory of Gibraltar will not yet release an Iranian oil tanker seized by Royal Marines in the Mediterranean despite an Iranian report that it could do so on Tuesday, an official Gibraltar source said.
An Iranian lawmaker said Iran has the responsibility for securing the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf.
The UK-flagged tanker Stena Impero has been seized in the Strait of Hurmuz by Iranian coastguards not for retaliation, Iran’s government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Monday.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Iran's logic about seizure of the UK oil tanker is more convincing than what the UK officials and the Gibraltar local government have declared about seizure of supertanker Grace 1.
