The Foreign Office (FO) said on Monday that as a “confidence-building measure” by the United States, 22 crew members on an Iranian ship that was seized by US forces had been evacuated to Pakistan.
The statement came hours after American outlet ABC News reported that an Iranian ship seized by the US after it “failed to comply” with the blockade imposed by the country on Iranian ports had been transferred to Pakistan for repatriation.
“US forces completed the transfer of 22 crew members of M/V Touska to Pakistan for repatriation,“ the report quoted US Central Command Spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins as saying.
“Six other passengers were already transferred to a regional country for repatriation last week,” he said. According to the report, Iranian state media identified the six as family members of some of the crew.
“Custody of Touska is currently being transferred back to its original ownership after the ship was intercepted and seized when attempting to violate the US naval blockade against Iran last month,” Hawkins said.
Subsequently, FO Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on the social media platform X, “As a confidence-building measure by the United States of America, twenty-two crew members held aboard the seized Iranian container ship, ‘MV Touska’, have been evacuated to Pakistan.”
“The individuals, who were flown to Pakistan last night, will be handed over to the Iranian authorities today,” he said.
“The Iranian ship will also be backloaded to Pakistani territorial waters for return to its original owners after necessary repairs,” Andrabi said, adding that these returns were being coordinated in tandem with the support of both sides.
“Pakistan welcomes such confidence-building measures and will continue to facilitate dialogue and diplomacy while pursuing ongoing mediation efforts for regional peace and security,” he said.
The ship was boarded and seized by US forces on April 19. The small container ship, which was part of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) group that has been hit with US sanctions, was boarded off the coast of Iran’s Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman.
At the time, the US Central Command said the ship’s crew “failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period”.
“American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the US blockade,” it said.
Iran’s foreign ministry had condemned the incident as “unlawful and a violation” of international law and demanded the immediate release of the vessel, its sailors and their families. Iran’s military had said the ship had been travelling from China and accused the US of “armed piracy”.
Hormuz, a key shipping lane off the coast of Iran, has been virtually blocked by Tehran since the United States and Israel started bombing Iran on February 28.
Some vessels attempting to transit the Strait have reported being fired on, and Iran seized several other ships. Last month, the US imposed its own blockade of ships from Iranian ports.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the country would start helping free ships stranded in the Gulf.
Trump provided few details about the plan, dubbed “Operation Freedom”, which he said would start on Monday to aid ships and their crews that have been “locked up” in the vital waterway and are running low on food and other supplies.
“We have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site.
