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Update: Iran releases Maersk ship

Xinhua, May 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iran has released a cargo ship of Danish shipping company Maersk seized last week, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said on Thursday.

"The Maersk Tigris ship was released and has left Iranian waters," Afkham told local media.

The commercial ship was seized on April 28 in the Strait of Hormuz, after it entered Iranian waters.

Iranian media initially reported the ship belonged to the United States, and that the U.S. navy was involved when the ship was seized, raising concerns on bilateral ties when the two countries are in talks to strike a deal on Iran's nuclear issue.

A Pentagon spokesman said at the time that a U.S. warship responded to a distress call from the ship, but stressed the ship carried Marshall Island flags and no U.S. citizen was on board.

Later it became clear that ship was seized upon a court ruling issued on March 16, over a case where an Iranian company sued Maersk, operator of the ship, for unpaid debts.

Maersk should pay some 10 million U.S. dollars in losses that it inflicted on the Iranian firm, the official IRNA news agency reported, quoting the country's Ports and Maritime Organization.

No political or security intentions or considerations were behind the Maersk ship confiscation, IRNA said.

Afkham said earlier the seizure was legal and in the framework of Iranian laws and international protocols, and that the ship would be released after "its overdue debt is settled."

On Wednesday, the Pentagon said U.S. Navy ships had ended a mission of accompanying U.S. and British-flagged commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz that started on May 1. Endit