South Korea will send a delegation to negotiate the release of a ship and its 20-member crew after the ship was seized by Iranian forces, officials said on Tuesday, the latest development in a Tehran government provocation, which is economically isolated by US sanctions.
Iranian officials said the ship was detained in the Persian Gulf by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard because it violated environmental protocols and was polluting the sea, according to Iranian state news agencies. The ship was carrying 7,200 tonnes of chemicals, mainly methanol, according to the South Korean company that owns it, which denied it was polluting the waters.
Tensions come as Tehran tries to pressure the Seoul government to free up about $ 7 billion in oil sales revenues that have remained frozen in South Korean banks since the Trump administration tightened sanctions on Iran.
But they also follow the recent escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran, as President Trump’s term ends. Iran said on Monday that it was beginning to increase nuclear enrichment levels at a key facility to 20 percent, a step closer to developing the ability to produce a nuclear weapon. The Pentagon said on Sunday that it instructed the aircraft carrier Nimitz to stay in the Middle East, days after ordering the ship to return home, because of Iranian threats against Trump and other American officials.
Iran dismissed the accusations on Tuesday that it had confiscated the South Korean vessel as a means of leverage, but reiterated its complaint about the blocked funds. “If anyone is a kidnapper, it is the government of South Korea, which has taken more than $ 7 billion of our revenues hostage for no reason,” Ali Rabiei, a government spokesman, told a virtual news conference.
But media outlets linked to the Revolutionary Guard made headlines on Tuesday, linking the ship’s seizure to negotiations with South Korea over the release of the frozen funds. “We caught the thieves,” said a headline in the Vatan Emrooz newspaper. “A clean response to revenue thieves,” said the Tasnim News Agency.
The ship, the oil tanker Hankuk Chemi, was sailing from Jubail, Saudi Arabia, to Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates, when armed Revolutionary Guards approached it, according to Ri Il-su, an employee of DM Shipping Co., the company that owns it.
Once on board, they forced the ship to change course and sail to Iran. “Iranian troops said they were coming on board for an investigation, but did not answer questions about what the investigation was about,” said Ri, who added that the ship’s captain called the company during the seizure.
Communication between the ship and the company was cut, and the company received an anti-piracy security alert from the ship, which company officials suspected had been activated by the captain as an alert to the ship’s headquarters. Mr. Ri called Iran’s accusations that the vessel was polluting the waters “absurd”.
The ship is being held at the port of Bandar Abbas and the case is expected to be referred to the judiciary, Iranian media reported, citing Navy officials.
There were five people from South Korea on board, plus 11 from Myanmar, two from Indonesia and two from Vietnam, according to Choi Young-sam, a spokesman for the South Korean Foreign Ministry.
“Our goal is the early release of the ship and its crew,” said Choi. “The Iranian diplomatic authorities have also made it clear to us that they will cooperate with us to resolve this issue quickly.”
The issue will also be addressed during a planned visit to Tehran by South Korea’s deputy foreign minister, Choi Jong-kun, next week, who should focus on Iran’s frozen assets in South Korea.
The future of relations between Iran and the United States appears to have reached an inflection point as electoral president Joseph R. Biden Jr. prepares to take office this month. A Biden security adviser said on Sunday that if Iran resumed compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal that President Trump left in 2018, the new government would seek a “subsequent negotiation” on Iran’s missile capabilities. The U.S. Treasury Department announced additional sanctions on Tuesday, targeting the Iranian steel sector.
But on Tuesday, Iran accused the United States of unleashing new tensions in the region, according to Press TV. “We made it clear to them that we will not start any war directly or indirectly, ”said Rabiei. “But if a flagrant mistake is made by the United States, we will defend our security and vital interests with full force.”
Farnaz Fassihi contributed reports.