6 crew members of US-seized Iranian ship released: Report

Tehran, April 30 Six of the 28 crew members of the Iranian container ship Touska, seized earlier this month by the United States, have been released and have returned to Iran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency has reported.

Efforts are underway to secure the release of the remaining crew, whom Iran describes as hostages of the "terrorist" US government, Tasnim said on Wednesday (local time).

The Iranian-flagged vessel was boarded and seized by US forces off the coast of Iran's southeastern Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman on April 19, reports Xinhua news agency.

Iran condemned the seizure as a "flagrant act of piracy." The country's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, explained that armed forces did not intervene at the time because the crew members' families were on board.

The continued US maritime "piracy and banditry" in the form of naval blockade against Iran will soon be met with "practical and unprecedented military action," state-run Press TV reported earlier, citing a high-ranking security source.

Iran's armed forces maintain that "patience has limits," and a "punishing response" will be necessary if the United States continues its "illegal" naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, the source told Press TV.

According to the source, if the US "obstinacy and delusions" continue, and Iran's conditions are rejected, the "enemy" should soon expect a different kind of response to the naval blockade, "which is akin to maritime banditry."

Meanwhile, in reaction to the US seizures of Iranian ships in international waters, Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, has said such actions constitute "illegal coercion and interference in legal trade," the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Wednesday.

Iravani made the remarks in a letter addressed to the UN and Security Council, describing the US seizures of Iranian vessels as "maritime piracy."

The United States has imposed a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, preventing ships from Iranian ports from transiting. The blockade came into effect after Iran-US negotiations in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on April 11 and 12 failed to lead to an agreement.

The talks came after a ceasefire on April 8 between Iran, the United States, and Israel halted 40 days of fighting.

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