Iran produced a South Korean oil tanker that had been at the heart of a dispute over punishing U.S. sanctions on Tehran, the exact same day Western and Iranian officials agreed to go on talks aimed at reviving the embattled 2015 nuclear accord.
The Hankuk Chemi, a South Korean-flagged ship that Iran impounded in January, remaining an Iranian port at five:fifty a.m. nearby time on Friday, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry explained. Tehran initially seized the ship, together with its captain and 19 crew members, for what it explained have been violations of environmental rules.
South Korea paid $one hundred,000 for the release of the ship—lower than Iran’s asking value of $fourteen million, in accordance to a Western official briefed on the talks. The South Korean Foreign Ministry didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Iran detained the Hankuk Chemi’s captain right until Friday. Some of the crew members had been produced earlier and went back to South Korea, even though other people stayed on the ship for routine maintenance uses.
“The overall health of the crew and captain are seem. The ship’s cargo is also in fantastic condition,” the South Korean Foreign Ministry explained. A spokesman for Tehran’s Foreign Ministry explained the ship was produced “following the completion of investigations” of its alleged misconduct.