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By APD writer Muhammad Sohail
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday that the country would release a UK-flagged oil tanker it detained for violating international maritime rules nearly two months ago.
The UK-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero will be released “in days,” said Abbas Mousavi.
The judicial process for the release of the vessel is almost finalized and once bureaucratic procedures have been cleared the ship can leave Iran, he said.
“This release is not being made because of any third party’s mediation,” he highlighted, Mehr News Agency reported.
Iran held the British-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz on July 19 for violating "international maritime rules."
In early September, Iran announced the release of the ship’s seven crewmembers on “humanitarian grounds”.
The spokesperson described reports suggesting that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, would meet at the UN's headquarters later this month as mere "speculation".
Mousavi made it clear that Rouhani had no plans to meet with Trump during his upcoming trip to New York to attend this year's United Nations General Assembly.
"Neither is this meeting on our agenda nor do I think it will happen in New York," he said. "As pointed out by Mr. Rouhani, we do not meet just for the photo op and any meeting should have a certain agenda and results that are palpable," Press TV reported.
He also repeated Iran's previous stance that if Washington wants to return to the negotiating table, it should first return to the nuclear deal and then end its "economic terrorism" against Iran.
Even then, all talks with Tehran would happen through the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Mousavi said.
Government spokesman Ali Rabiei echoed the stance, saying in a separate press briefing that Iran is not willing to talk to a "dishonest" interlocutor under sanctions.
"If the current situation continues, there is no chance the two presidents could meet," he told reporters Monday. "From Iran's perspective, ending all sanctions that the US has imposed on Iran after leaving the JCPOA is a key condition to establish constructive diplomacy."
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)