Indian Embassy Officials In Iran To Soon Meet 17 Sailors Onboard Seized Ship

New Delhi: Indian Embassy officials in Iran are expected to soon meet the 17 Indian crew members who were onboard the Portugal-flagged cargo ship MSC Aries that was seized by the Iran Revolutionary Guards before it could reach its destination, the Nhava Sheva Port in Mumbai. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar Monday said he has asked his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amirabdollahian that he wants Tehran to release the sailors and send them back to India “quickly”.

Jaishankar has said he also told Iran not to escalate the ongoing tensions with Israel, and that the adverse impact of the crisis will be felt globally and particularly on India due to a massive diaspora that lives in West Asia, along with the fact that a majority of Indian crude is imported through the sea lanes present in the area where the crisis is unfolding

“This (MSC Aries) was a Portuguese-flagged ship. It was taken over by an Iranian force. The ship was then made to proceed towards Iran … I spoke with my Iranian counterpart, I pressed him, I said there are 17 crew members from India and we are making the point to the Iranian government that these people should be released and they should not be detained,” Jaishankar said Monday, addressing a media conference in Bangalore.

He added: “After that there had been some follow-up conversations between our Embassy and the Iranian authorities … For me the first point is, I want our Embassy people to actually go there and meet these people,  that will be my first point of satisfaction. Secondly, I will absolutely press for these people to come back to India as quickly as we can… My Iranian counterpart was quite responsive in this.”

This comes after Jaishankar spoke with the Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in the wake of Iran’s direct attack on Israel on Saturday with missiles and drones that has stirred up tensions in West Asia, which has already been facing a hot war between Israel and Hamas since October 2023.

The cargo ship, which was seized by Iran off the coast of United Arab Emirates, has links with Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer. It also had crew from other countries like Russia, Pakistan, Philippines and Estonia.

According to a readout issued by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Amirabdollahian has told Jaishankar over telephone that they are “actively monitoring the situation concerning the seized ship, and arrangements will soon be made for representatives of the Indian government to meet with the crew members of the vessel in question”.

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‘Iran-Israel Tensions Can’t Be Allowed To Escalate, Told Them Calm Down’

According to Jaishankar, he has spoken to both his Iranian as well as Israeli counterparts that the tensions between them, which has heightened after Iran launched a direct attack on Israel, should not be escalated owing to the significance of the region in the stability of the global as well as Indian economy.

“We have been telling both of them that please do not allow this to escalate. This is a very very (sic) crucial region for the global economy. For India, today there are almost 90 lakh Indian citizens who live in this part of the world. A large part of our shipping passes through this part of the world, our oil comes from this part of the world. So this is an enormously sensitive region so we are very concerned when there is this kind of escalation and hostility. So our effort has been to tell both of them to calm down,” said Jaishankar.

As tensions soared between Iran and Israel on Sunday, Jaishankar held telephone conversation with Amirabdollahian as well as Israel Foreign Affairs Minister Israel Katz.

“We also understand that they have concerns … I am only saying that for the rest of the world and definitely for India we would like find ways de-escalating the situation,” he added.

On the other hand, Iran has said India should play its role in the United Nations and seek to “halt the war in Gaza” even as Tehran is seeking “a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza and the establishment of peace and security across the region, extending from the Mediterranean coast to the Red Sea”.