A South Korean delegation is heading to Iran on Wednesday to seek the release of a chemicals tanker and its 20-member crew seized in Gulf waters by Iranian forces, Yonhap news agency reported.
Armed Islamic Revolutionary Guard troops stormed the South Korean tanker and forced the ship to change course and travel to Iran, the vessel's owner said on Tuesday, the latest maritime seizure by Tehran amid heightened tension with the West over its nuclear program.
Iran denied on Tuesday that it was using the ship and its crew as hostages while pressing a demand for Seoul to release $7 billion in funds frozen under US sanctions.
Instead Iranian authorities claimed that they stopped the vessel for polluting the waters of the Arabian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
“If anybody is to be called a hostage taker, it is the South Korean government that has taken our more than $7 billion hostage under a futile pretext,” spokesman Ali Rabiei said.
The seizure of the MT Hankuk Chemi, near the Strait of Hormuz, has been seen as an attempt by Tehran to assert its demands, just two weeks before president-elect Joe Biden takes office in the US.
Iran wants Biden to lift sanctions that were imposed by outgoing President Donald Trump.
Iran on Monday also began enriching uranium up to 20 per cent, a small technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent, at its underground Fordo centre. That move appeared aimed at pressuring the US in the final days of President Donald Trump's administration, which unilaterally withdrew from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.
Seoul's foreign ministry called in the Iranian ambassador on Tuesday to call for the early release of the tanker and its crew of 20. In a report submitted to parliament, the ministry said South Korea is reviewing whether the ship breached international law by polluting the waters, as claimed by Tehran, but also whether Iran breached regulations during the boarding and seizure process.
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Iranian attack boats guide the Hankuk Chemi toward the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas on January 4, 2021, in aerial images published by Iranian authorities. AFP / Tasnim News -
Iranian state television claim the South Korean-flagged vessel was responsible for 'environmental pollution' - but the seizure was widely seen as the latest harassment of a merchant vessel by Tehran's government. AFP / Tasnim News -
A US Marine watches an Iranian fast attack craft from the deck of the USS John P Murtha in the Strait of Hormuz in July, 2019. The US and its allies routinely patrol the narrow 30km strait as Tehran continues to harass maritime oil and gas tankers. US Navy via Reuters -
Iran has published a series of mock-up attacks and threats against US forces. This handout photo from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows it apparently targeting the USS Nimitz in September, 2020. AFP / Iran's Revolutionary Guard -
The USS Nimitz and the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea pass through the Strait of Hormuz on September 18, 2020. The aircraft carrier's deployment was extended on January 3, 2021 in the wake of threats from Iran on the first anniversary of the killing of Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani. AP -
Iranian media shows a series of explosions during Iranian military exercises near the Strait of Hormuz in July, 2020. AFP -
Iranian commandos fast-rope down from a helicopter onto the MV Wila in the Gulf of Oman on August 12, 2020. The Liberian-flagged oil tanker was held for five hours before being released in an operation designed to harass maritime vessels. US Military Central Command via AP -
The Royal Navy's HMS Montrose escorts two vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in July, 2019. AFP -
The Stena Impero tanker was seized by Iran in July 2019 and held for two months in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, before being released. AP -
Iranian state media shows the crew of the Stena Impero while held captive in July, 2019. It was released in September, 2019. AFP -
A handout photo made available by Iranian Army website shows an Iranian helicopter lands on a warship during a military exercise in the Arabian Gulf in September, 2020. EPA -
Underground ballistic missiles fired by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard during a military exercise involving a mock-up aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz. AP
South Korea’s vice foreign minister Choi Jong Kun is scheduled to visit Tehran on Sunday, a visit that was previously scheduled to discuss a range of bilateral issues, the ministry said on Tuesday.
In response to the seizure, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism warned Japanese shippers to use extra caution in operations in the area, an official at the ministry’s maritime bureau said.
