FILE PHOTO: Stena Impero, a British-flagged vessel owned by Stena Bulk, is seen at undisclosed place off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran August 22, 2019. Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS.
September 22, 2019
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Stena Impero, the British-flagged tanker detained by Iran on July 19, may be released within hours, Swedish television on Sunday quoted the head of the Swedish firm that owns the vessel as saying.
The Stena Impero was detained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the Strait of Hormuz waterway for alleged marine violations, two weeks after Britain seized an Iranian tanker off the territory of Gibraltar. That vessel was released in August.
Swedish public broadcaster SVT quoted Stena Bulk Chief Executive Erik Hanell as saying: “We have received information now this morning that it seems like they will release the ship Stena Impero within a few hours. So we understand that the political decision to release the ship has been taken.”
“We hope to be able to head out within a few hours, but we don’t want to anticipate events. We want to see that the ship sails out of Iranian territorial waters,” Hanell told SVT.
Hanell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.¨Stena Bulk spokesman Will Marks declined to confirm the company had been informed of a possible release on Sunday.
“The vessel is still being held and the negotiations are ongoing, and until we have official confirmation and the vessel is lifting up its anchor and sailing out of Iranian waters we can’t confirm anything else,” he told Reuters.
On Sept. 4, Iran released seven of the vessel’s 23 crew members. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said at the time that Sweden had been in daily contact with Iran at a high political level since the vessel was seized.
(Reporting By Anna Ringstrom; Writing by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Giles Elgood and Dale Hudson)
