Iran has detained a South Korean oil tanker that left Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf. The country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed that the ship was intercepted on charges of polluting the Persian Gulf with chemical sprays. The South Korean foreign ministry did not immediately comment on the seizure.
The IRGC's naval branch said in a statement on Monday that the ship had been intercepted at the request of the Hormozgan Province Ports and Seas Department and on the instructions of the provincial prosecutor. The statement added that a ship named Hancock Kemi from South Korea left the port of Jubail in Saudi Arabia. The ship was polluting the waters of the Persian Gulf with chemicals.
The IRGC said in a statement that crews from South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar were on board and all of them had been detained. He is currently being held in the Iranian port of Abbas. The matter has been handed over to the Iranian judiciary for further investigation.
The South Korean deputy foreign minister is scheduled to visit Tehran in a few days. The incident took place before the oil tanker was seized.
