Tehran (AFP)
Swedish tanker Stena Impero, seized by Iran in July in the Strait of Hormuz, began leaving Iran's territorial waters on Friday, shipping authorities said in the Iranian province of Hormozgan (south-west).
In Sweden, the Swedish owner of the oil tanker earlier said that the vessel flying the British flag was preparing to leave after obtaining the final authorization from the Iranian authorities.
"The Impero Stena started to take the sea around 09:00 local time (0530 GMT) towards the international waters of the Persian Gulf," Hormozgan's maritime authorities said on their website. But despite the authorization to leave "the judicial record of the ship remains open".
The captain of the tanker and the crew "signed a statement in which they claim to have no demand," they continued without further details.
The 183-meter tanker, boarded on July 19 by Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, was taken to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas (south) with a crew of 23 on board. Seven of them were released on 4 September.
The Iranian authorities accused the tanker of ignoring distress calls and turning off his transponder after colliding with a fishing boat.
The seizure came a few hours after the Gibraltar court announced the prolongation of the seizure of Grace 1, an Iranian oil tanker arrested on 4 July by the police and customs of this British territory at the southernmost tip of the country. Spain. Iran has denied that this is retaliation. And the Iranian tanker was released.
© 2019 AFP