15 crew members of US-seized Iranian ship return home
Fifteen crew members of the Iranian commercial vessel Touska, seized by the United States as part of Washington’s illegal naval blockade against the Islamic Republic, have returned home from Pakistan.
The crew were transferred to Pakistan for repatriation and arrived in Iran on Monday via the Rimdan border terminal in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
US forces attacked and seized Touska in the Gulf of Oman on April 1, detaining its 28 crew and claiming the ship had violated the so-called naval blockade.
Six crew members of the ship were previously released. Seven others are still in Pakistan.
ABC News on Sunday cited US Central Command (CENTCOM), which overseas American troops in West Asia, as saying that procedures had also begun to return the ship to its owner.
US-seized Iranian vessel
Iran has vehemently denounced the naval blockade, and pledged not to rejoin talks with the United States as long as it remains in place.
The Islamic Republic says the seizure of several Iranian vessels constitutes an act of piracy. Tehran says it reserves all rights to take due defensive countermeasures.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has admitted that the US Navy acts “like pirates” in implementing the blockade.
