British tanker leaves port after being detained in Iran for months

Dubai: British-flagged tanker Stena Impero, detained by Iran in July, has started moving and exited the Bandar Abbas port, according to Refinitiv ship-tracking data.

The Stena Impero was detained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the Strait of Hormuz waterway for alleged marine violations two weeks after Britain seized an Iranian tanker off the territory of Gibraltar. That vessel was released in August.

The Stena has set a new destination for Port Rashid in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, about 250 kilometres away, the tracking data showed on Friday. At normal tanker speed, it would reach port within half a day.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry had said on Wednesday that a lifting of the detention order had been finalised, but that an investigation into the vessel was ongoing.

The ship’s owner, Stena Bulk of Sweden, later said it was not in negotiations with Iran and was not aware of any formal charges against the crew or the company.
Read the article in The Sydney Morning Herald.