Minister Zarif was in Sweden for bilateral talks with the Swedish Foreign Minister and officials on regional and international issues, including security of the Persian Gulf.
Hanell said; “A constructive dialogue was had and we shared information around the case. It was important for us to emphasise the importance of the release of the 23 crew members of Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino nationalities, who have now been held on board for nearly five weeks and whose families were getting extremely concerned about their loved ones. Also for the release of the Swedish owned vessel ‘Stena Impero’.”
Hanell thanked the Foreign Minister for allowing access to the vessel by embassy officials from those countries from where the seafarers being detained hale from and for allowing calls from the crew on board to their families at home.
Stena Bulk had earlier written to all the leaders of the countries who have crew members detained on board the MR seeking support for their release.