TEHRAN Iran's Ports and Shipping Organization (IPSO) announced its readiness on Thursday to fight with the oil slick in the Persian Gulf created as a result of Georgios oil tanker ship which sank in the Persian Gulf.

Issuing a statement, IPSO said that in line with international conventions, it is ready to help fight the oil pollution by sending a team to the Persian Gulf.

The U.S. navy has said the Honduras-flagged Georgios was carrying almost 1,900 tons of Iraqi crude when it was intercepted on July 10. It sank on Sunday after being detained for more than four weeks.

IPSO said it has sought assistance from the naval forces of the Iranian army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to send equipment to clean up the oil slick.

The slick is concentrated on an area 2.5 miles in length and between a quarter and a half mile wide close to Iran's Cyrus oilfield.

The Bahrain-based U.S. fifth fleet said the 12 Iraqi crewmen rescued from the Georgios were being held on a U.S. navy vessel.

The ship's unidentified owners have charged that the U.S. navy sank the vessel intentionally following an argument between the captain and an inspection party, which escaped unharmed when the vessel sank.

A U.S.-led multinational naval force patrols Persian Gulf waters to enforce a UN embargo slapped on Iraq for invading Kuwait in August 1990.

The United Arab Emirates was also hit with a costly clean-up bill after the Georgian-registered Zainab, a vessel more than 30 years old and with a cargo of 1,300 tons of illicit Iraqi oil, sank in May.