Indian crew onboard ship seized by Iran to return home 'soon': Iranian FM

All the Indian crew members of a Portuguese-flagged ship seized by Iran are set to return to India, Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian has announced.

In a conversation with his Portuguese counterpart Paulo Rangel, Abdollahiah said, “The human issue of the freedom of the ship’s crew is of serious concern to us, and we have announced consular access, freedom and transfer to their ambassadors in Tehran.”

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the container vessel MSC Aries with a crew of 25 in the Strait of Hormuz on April 13, days after Tehran vowed to retaliate for a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus. Iran had said it could close the crucial shipping route.

One of the 17 crew members has already safely returned to India.

It is important to note here that the Indian Foreign Ministry on Thursday said that there are certain “technicalities involved” in the return of the remaining 16 Indian crew members.

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“These 16 people, we had asked consular access for, which we got. Our officers went there and met. They are in constant touch with their families. Their health is good and they have no problems of any kind onboard the ship. As far as their return is concerned, there are certain technicalities involved, there are some contractual obligations, once that is done, it will depend on that when will they return,” MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

The dates of the repatriation of the 16 Indian crew members have not been announced yet.

Earlier, the Iranian Foreign Minister told External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar that Tehran would allow Indian authorities to meet the crew members.

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Along with Indians, the crew of the ship also included people from the Philippines, Pakistan and Russia.

With inputs from agencies