TEHRAN - Saeed Khatibzadeh, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Monday that Iran is “waiting for more reports from the Indonesian government on the seizure of the Iranian oil tanker.”

In his weekly press conference, Khatibzadeh said the seizure of Iranian tanker “is a technical issue and there have been such incidents in the shipping lines before.”

Khatibzadeh noted the Ports and Shipping Organization and the ship owner company are looking to investigate the reasons for the seizure to resolve it.
 
“The Iranian embassy and the Iranian Ministry of Transport and Urban Development are pursuing the issue,” he added.

He declined to comment about any connection between the capture of the Iranian ship and the recent seizure of a South Korean vessel by Iran, which he described as a technical issue.

On Sunday, Indonesia claimed its coast guard seized the Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian-flagged MT Freya vessels over suspected illegal oil transfer in the country’s waters.

Indonesia’s coast guard spokesman claimed the two tankers concealed their identity by not showing their national flags, turning off automatic identification systems and did not respond to a radio call.

 ‘Effective steps’

On the recent remarks by the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia who claims that Iran has ignored the message of peace by his country, the Iranian spokesman said, “We cannot overlook the daily bombardment of Yemen while they are talking about peace in Yemen.”

“If Saudi Arabia moves away from the vicious cycle of violence and cooperation with extra-regional countries, in a way be reflected in the words and deed of Riyadh, our arms are open and we will take more effective steps,” he pointed out. 

Khatibzadeh, however, said that Iran has already proposed the Hormuz Peace Initiative (HOPE) to all regional countries, including Saudi Arabia.

EE/PA