Iran releases seized Marshall Islands-flagged ship

Iran on Thursday released a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship that its navy seized last week, allowing it to leave Iranian waters, according to government-controlled media.

"Today the (Maersk Tigris) ship was released and it left the Iranian territorial waters," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said, according to Iran's Fars News.

Iran initially said when it seized the 837-foot container ship that it had veered into Iranian waters. However, Afkham said the seizure was on orders of an Iranian court because of a legal complaint by a private company in Iran. She said it would be released after the payment of a fine.

Afkham said the ship's crew of 30, which did not include any Americans, were safe and healthy when they left Iranian waters, according to Fars.

The ship left its anchorage near Bandar Abbas in Iran and is heading south at 18 knots, said Thomas Owen, of ship-tracking firm MariTrace. The ship was originally headed from Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port of Jeddah to Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates.

"Looking at position and heading, she appears to be heading towards Jebel Ali again," Owen said.

The ship was operated by the Maersk shipping company, which is based in Denmark and provides transport services to the U.S. military. Maersk chartered the ship from Rickmers Ship Management, based in Singapore, and carried no military equipment, according to The Associated Press.

Rickmers confirmed that the ship and its crew were released and are now headed to Jebel Ali after Maersk paid "a security" involving a long-running commercial dispute with an Iranian customer, according to Lloyd's List, a shipping news report. Iran seized the ship and its crew over a $163,000 judgment related to 10 unclaimed containers delivered to the United Arab Emirates in 2005. The company agreed to pay the judgment, Lloyd's said.

The ship was seized as it sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the busiest and most tense sea passages in the world. The strait is the transit point for 85% of crude oil shipped from the Persian Gulf to Asian markets. The internationally recognized shipping lane in each direction is only two miles wide, separated by a two-mile buffer zone, according to the Energy Information Agency, part of the U.S. Energy Department.

The incident occurred as the United States leads a naval blockade of Iran-backed Houthi rebel forces in Yemen. The blockade, sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council, is aimed at preventing Iranian ships, weapons and personnel from reaching the Houthis and their allies, who've seized the capital Sanaa and ousted the Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

A convoy of Iranian ships suspected of carrying arms for the Houthis was headed toward Yemen two weeks ago but turned around and returned toward Iran after being shadowed by U.S. warships accompanying the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt.