ISLAMABAD: Twenty Iranian sailors aboard vessels seized by the United States near Singaporean waters earlier this month have returned from Islamabad to Tehran, Iranian state media confirmed on Thursday.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said last Friday that Islamabad had secured the repatriation of 11 Pakistani nationals, alongside 20 Iranian nationals, who were aboard vessels seized near Singaporean waters by the US. Dar said all 31 crew members reached Bangkok from Singapore and were scheduled to arrive in Islamabad on May 15.
The development takes place as Pakistan mediates between the US and Iran. Both countries have been involved in a conflict since February, with Iran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz for most ships while Washington imposes a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
“Reliable sources confirmed to IRNA that 20 Iranian sailors who were transferred to Islamabad after their ship was seized by the US regime off the coast of Singapore last week returned to Tehran today on an Iranian flight,” Iran’s state-run IRNA news organization reported.
Citing a diplomatic source, IRNA said the group of Iranian crew members left Islamabad for Tehran on a Mahan Air passenger flight on Thursday.
Pakistan has mediated amid tensions between the US and Iran by exchanging messages between the two sides and relaying peace proposals. Earlier this month, Pakistan’s foreign office announced that Washington had evacuated 22 crew members of an Iranian ship seized by the US to Pakistan as a “confidence -building measure.”
The US said Iranian vessel Touska was struck and seized by the US military after it refused to follow Washington’s orders to withdraw from its planned passage through the Strait of Hormuz on Apr. 19.
While a fragile ceasefire agreed in April remains intact, tensions persist between the US and Iran. Both sides are yet to hold a fresh round of peace talks after their initial discussions in Islamabad in April. Differences remain over Iran’s uranium enrichment, security issues in the Middle East and the lifting of sanctions against Tehran.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei confirmed on Wednesday that Tehran had received a fresh peace proposal from the US, saying it was examining it. Meanwhile, Trump said the same day that Washington was in the “final stages” of negotiations with Iran.
“We’ll either have a deal or we’re going to do some things that are a little bit nasty. But hopefully that won’t happen,” he said.
Trump has repeatedly threatened Tehran with renewed military action, while Iranian officials have hit back with their own warnings of devastating retaliation.
