Iran says Indian oil tanker still under inspection, suspects technical defect

Iran said Tuesday it is still examining the Indian oil tanker that it had seized last week in the Persian Gulf for allegedly causing pollution.
The Indian tanker -- MT Desh Shanti -- belonging to state-owned Shipping Corporation of India, or SCI, was transporting oil from Iraq to India when it was detained by Iranian security officials, the Times of India had reported last week.
"Following alerts from some countries in the southern shores of the Persian Gulf as well as notifications from the international sailing organization, we had to stop an Indian oil tanker which was polluting the waters," foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Araghchi told his weekly press conference broadcast on state television Tuesday.
"After the inspections [it was known] that the tanker has technical defects and this technical problem has probably caused the pollution ... we are waiting for completion of inspections to see whether the pollution is related to this tanker or not," he said.
If the tanker is found to have caused the pollution, the "captain or the owner of the tanker must compensate for the pollution," Araghchi said, adding that the ship will be able to sail only "after necessary reparations are made to remove the pollution."
An SCI official, however, had told Platts on August 15 that the ship had been released and "cleared of any wrongdoing and of spilling oil."
Araghchi stressed that the issue was a "small and technical thing," and "will be resolved among international bodies." Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization is in charge of the case, he said.
"This will ... be resolved by cooperation of Indian experts whom we have invited to visit the ship so that it will resume its route," he said.
The Press Trust of India reported Monday that India has sent a team of officials, including a senior SCI official and members of the Indian Register of Shipping to Iran to look into the technical aspects of the tanker.
Source: Platts