TEHRAN – Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Wednesday that the procedure to release a detained British-flagged oil tanker has been finalized with cooperation of Iranian Foreign Ministry, Judiciary and Ports and Maritime Organization.

However, Mousavi said, the case is still open to address some of the tanker’s violations concerning the environmental damages it caused, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

He said the owner and captain of the oil tanker have made a written commitment. 

On July 19, the 30,000-ton UK-flagged Stena Impero tanker was seized by Iranian naval forces, after it ignored distress call as it collided with a fishing boat on its route.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said at that time that the ship had also used a wrong path to enter the Strait of Hormuz.  

A day after the seizure of the Stena Impero, Iran released footage showing Iranian speedboats cruising near the tanker as a military helicopter hovered over the vessel.

Earlier, an Iranian maritime official said the Stena Impero would be released soon.

“Pursuant to a court order requiring an end to detention of the British oil tanker Stena Impero, this vessel will soon be released after 65 days of detention and begin its movement from the port of Bandar Abbas toward international waters,” Allahmorad Afifipour, the head of the Ports and Maritime Department of Iran’s Hormozgan Province said on Sunday, Press TV reported.

MH/PA