India confirmed nine out of 12 crew members have been freed from the captured Panama-flagged tanker on July 14.
“Iran has released nine out of 12 Indians who were on board the ship MT Riah that was detained in early July, official sources said Thursday,” reported India Today.
Iran had recently accused MT Riah ship of fuel smuggling when it was detained, amid rising tension between Iran, Britain, and United States over shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
There are still 21 other Indian nationals detained in Iran, including three from MT Riah and 18 from the British-flagged MT Stena Impero oil tanker which was also seized by Iran last week.
MT Stena Impero and its 23 crew members, who allegedly violated the “international maritime rules”, have been impounded at the southern port of Bandar Abbas.
The said vessel is the object of the dispute between Iranian and UK government.
Apart from the 18 Indians, there are three Russians, a Latvian and a Filipino on the ship.
On July 25, India announced that its officials in Iran had been given access to Stena impero crew.
“All 18 Indian crew members on board are safe and doing fine. Will continue to push for their early release,” junior foreign minister V Muraleedharan said on Twitter.
