According to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency on the 2nd, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Khatibzadeh issued a statement on the same day that Iran approved the crew of the tanker Korean Chemical to leave Iran “in a humanitarian manner”, but legal proceedings regarding the suspected illegal case of the tanker and its captain are still ongoing.
In progress. Khatibzadeh also mentioned that Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Aragshi had a telephone conversation with Choi Jong-jian, the first official (deputy minister) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, to discuss the immediate unfreezing of Iranian frozen funds in South Korea and the “effective mechanism” for using these assets.
Iran detained the tanker Korean Chemical and 20 crew members in the Persian Gulf on January 4 for “violating laws related to the marine environment”.