The crew on board the MSC Aries has been released. The containership was seized on 13th April by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Gulf of Hormuz, 80 kilometres off the coast of the United Arab Emirates,
The news was announced by Iranian Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, at the end of talks with his Portuguese counterpart Paulo Rangel.
There are 25 members of the crew. The vessel, however, owned by Gortal Shipping Inc, a subsidiary of Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Maritime and later chartered to MSC, is still in the hands of Iranian special forces.
Translation by Giles Foster