South Korea is making a diplomatic effort to release an oil tanker confiscated by Iran amid a frozen banking dispute, the latest outbreak of tensions between Tehran and a US ally.
A South Korean delegation arrived in Tehran on Thursday, three days after the 9,797-ton oil tanker Hankuk Chemi and his 20 crew members were detained. The delegation is expected to lay the groundwork for a visit to Iran on Sunday by the country’s deputy foreign minister, according to South Korea’s foreign ministry.
The oil seizure coincides with growing international tensions between Iran’s allies and the United States over the nation’s potential links to disrupted trade, progress toward a possible nuclear weapon and alleged cyber attacks.
Tehran said the ship violated environmental regulations, but Seoul disputes the claim. The latest oil tanker inspection during a 2019 port visit to China showed no environmental violations and only minor safety violations, according to the European Union’s maritime transport database, Equasis.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said talks were unlikely to begin until the arrival of the South Korean deputy foreign minister and called the detention a technical issue that “is being processed professionally and judicially.”