Iran has inquired with the Indonesian government about the detention of the MT Horse oil tanker in Indonesia's territorial waters, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday
TEHRAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2021) Iran has inquired with the Indonesian government about the detention of the MT Horse oil tanker in Indonesia's territorial waters, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday.
Reports about the Iranian tanker's detention off Indonesia's western coast emerged on Sunday. Iranian state media confirmed the detention, citing the Indonesian authorities, but did not provide any additional details.
"With regard to the vessel detained in Indonesia's territorial waters, we wait for more information from Indonesia. We have already requested it, because we were receiving some controversial information. It is a technical issue," Khatibzadeh said at a briefing.
According to reports, MT Horse, together with Panamanian-flagged MT Freya, were detained by the Indonesian coast guard for reasons ranging from illegal transfer of oil to oil leakage into the sea to shutting down their identification systems.
The incident was preceded by the detention of an Indonesian-crewed South Korean oil tanker by Iran on January 4. The Iranian government said that the vessel was detained for polluting water, but it is largely believed that Tehran pursued to pressure Seoul to unfreeze $7 billion worth of Iranian assets in South Korean banks.
