New Delhi, September 5
Iran has finally agreed to release an Indian oil tanker that was detained by its naval authorities at the Bandar Abbas Port three weeks ago. A Shipping Ministry official today said the Iranian authorities had agreed to release “MT Desh Shanti”, owned by the Shipping Corporation of India.

He said the decision had been communicated to his ministry by Indian Ambassador in Iran Dinkar Srivastava.

Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed that the ship was being released.

Iran had contended that the ship had been detained for allegedly causing oil pollution while returning to India from Iraq carrying crude oil.

The ship was carrying 32 seafarers, including 13 officers, when it was detained by the Iranian authorities. An agreement to release the ship came after intense negotiations between the Iranian authorities and the Indian Embassy in Tehran. The Iranian side had made it clear that the ship had been detained purely on technical grounds with no ill-intention. New Delhi, however, refused to buy Tehran’s argument.

Last week, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh had summoned Gholamreza Ansari for the second time in a fortnight, registering India’s “strong concern” at Tehran’s continued detention of the Indian tanker.

In retaliation, Iran summoned the Indian envoy to protest the detention of an Iranian cargo vessel at a Gujarat port for more than a year-and-a-half, leading to diplomatic tensions between the two friendly nations.

India has significantly reduced its crude imports from Iran following Western sanctions against the Islamic nation.

This led to speculation that Iran was upset with India over reducing oil purchases from them. New Delhi, however, clarified to Tehran that it was cutting down oil imports from the Islamic nation as it was finding it difficult to make payments due to the sanctions.