S. Korea wants its seized ship back from Iran
South Korea will send a delegation to negotiate the release of a ship and its 20-member crew after the vessel was seized by Iranian forces, officials said Tuesday, the latest development in a provocation by the government in Tehran, which has been economically isolated by U.S. sanctions.
Iranian officials said the ship was detained in the Persian Gulf by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard because it had violated environmental protocols and was polluting the sea, according to Iranian state news agencies. The ship was carrying 7,200 tons of chemicals, mostly methanol, according to the South Korean company that owns it, which has denied that it was polluting the waters.
The tensions come as Tehran has sought to pressure the government in Seoul to release about $7 billion in revenues from oil sales that remain frozen in South Korean banks since the Trump administration tightened sanctions.
But they also follow recent escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran as President Donald Trump’s term draws to a close. Iran said Monday that it was starting to increase nuclear enrichment levels at a key facility to 20 percent, a step closer to developing the capacity to produce a nuclear weapon. The Pentagon said Sunday that it had directed the aircraft carrier Nimitz to remain in the Middle East, days after it had ordered the ship to return home, because of Iranian threats against Trump and other U.S. officials.
Iran rejected allegations Tuesday that it had seized the South Korean ship as leverage but reiterated its complaint over the locked-up funds. “If anyone is a hostage taker, it’s South Korea’s government, which has taken hostage more than $7 billion of our revenues for no reason,” Ali Rabiei, a government spokesman, said at a virtual news conference.
But news outlets linked to the Revolutionary Guard ran frontpage headlines Tuesday linking the seizure of the ship to negotiations with South Korea on releasing the frozen funds. “We captured the thieves,” said a headline on newspaper Vatan Emrooz. “A clean response to revenue thieves,” said the Tasnim News Agency.
The ship, the tanker Hankuk Chemi, was sailing from Jubail, Saudi Arabia, to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates when armed Revolutionary Guard members approached it, according to Ri Il-su, an official at DM Shipping Co., the company that owns it.
Once aboard, they forced the ship to change course and sail to Iran.
The vessel is being held in the port of Bandar Abbas, and the case is expected to be referred to the judiciary, Iranian media reported, citing navy authorities.
“Our goal is an early release of the ship and its crew,” Choi Young-sam, a spokesman for the South Korean Foreign Ministry, said. “The Iranian diplomatic authorities have also made it clear to us that they will cooperate with us for an early resolution of this issue.”