India said on Saturday it was in touch with Tehran to secure the release of 18 of its nationals serving on a British-flagged tanker seized by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Philippines also said it would ask Iran to free a Filipino crew member on the Swedish-owned Stena Impero which was seized on Friday, as tensions mount in a key waterway for the world's oil supplies.
Raveesh Kumar, spokesman for India's foreign ministry, told AFP that 18 of its nationals were on the ship and said New Delhi was “in touch with the government of Iran to secure (their) early release and repatriation”.
The tanker was impounded off Bandar Abbas port for breaking “international maritime rules” after colliding with a fishing boat, Iranian authorities said.
The Philippine foreign department said a Filipino, three Russians and a Latvian were also among the ship's crew.
“(Philippine) Ambassador to Iran Fred Santos is contacting Iranian authorities to seek assurance that the Filipino seafarer is safe and will be released soon,” it said, adding the unidentified crew member's family has been notified.
The recruitment agency that supplied the Filipino crew member told Manila there were no reported injuries as the vessel headed for the Iranian coast on Friday, the department added.
Iranian authorities said the tanker has anchored off Bandar Abbas with all its 23 crew aboard.
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they had seized a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz for breaking “international maritime rules” as tensions mount in the highly sensitive waterway.
Britain, however, said Iran had seized two ships in the Gulf, with British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warning of “serious consequences” if the issue was not resolved quickly.
The British owner of one of the tankers, the Liberian-flagged Mesdar, said the ship had been temporarily boarded by armed personnel, but was free to leave and that all crew were “safe and well.”
The latest incidents came as United States President Donald Trump insisted on Friday that the US military had downed an Iranian drone that was threatening an American naval vessel in the Strait of Hormuz — through which nearly a third of the world's oil is transported — despite denials from Tehran.
Tensions in the Gulf have soared in recent weeks, with Trump calling off air strikes against Iran at the last minute in June after Tehran downed a US drone, and blaming Iran for a series of tanker attacks.
'Serious consequences'
On Friday, the Stena Impero tanker “was confiscated... for failing to respect international maritime rules,” the Revolutionary Guards' official website Sepahnews said.
The tanker “was led to the shore and handed over to the organisation to go through the legal procedure and required investigations,” it said.
Tanker tracking service Marine Traffic showed that the Swedish-owned Stena Impero last signalled its location near the island of Larak at 9:00 PM local time (1630 GMT).
The ship was transiting the Strait of Hormuz and in “international waters” when it was “attacked by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter,” the owner said.
“We are presently unable to contact the vessel which is now tracking as heading north towards Iran,” a statement said.
Hunt said he was “extremely concerned” by the seizure of the two vessels. “We are absolutely clear that if this situation is not resolved quickly there will be serious consequences,” he told Sky News.
The incident came hours after Gibraltar's Supreme Court said it would extend by 30 days the detention of an Iranian tanker seized two weeks ago on allegations that it was heading to Syria in violation of sanctions.
Nuclear standoff
The latest escalation comes more than a year after Washington unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement and began ratcheting up sanctions against Tehran.
On Friday Trump spoke with French leader Emmanuel Macron, the White House said, with the leaders discussing “ongoing efforts to ensure Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Earlier this month, Iran purposely overshot the deal's caps on uranium enrichment, aiming to pressure the remaining parties to make good on their promises to help prop up its economy. Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if attacked.
Tags:
Shipping