By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The United States has repatriated 22 crew members from an Iranian container ship seized last month, transferring them to Pakistan as a confidence-building measure even as President Donald Trump announced the start of a military-backed operation to free hundreds of vessels stranded in the Strait of Hormuz, Pakistani and American officials said Monday.
The Foreign Office confirmed the handover hours after ABC News reported the development, citing US Central Command. The 22 crew members from the M/V Touska were flown to Pakistan overnight and were to be turned over to Iranian authorities later on Monday, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said. Six additional passengers — identified by Iranian state media as family members of some crew — had already been transferred to a regional country for repatriation the previous week, according to US Central Command spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins.
“U.S. forces completed the transfer of 22 crew members of M/V Touska to Pakistan for repatriation,” Hawkins told ABC News. Custody of the vessel itself “is currently being transferred back to its original ownership” after it was intercepted for attempting to violate the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, he added. The ship will be towed to Pakistani territorial waters for necessary repairs before its return, Andrabi said.
The announcement came against the backdrop of a fragile regional standoff that began Feb. 28, when US and Israeli forces launched airstrikes against Iran. Tehran responded by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil shipments, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s seaborne petroleum passes. Iran has seized several vessels and fired on others attempting to transit the waterway, while the United States imposed its own blockade on ships departing Iranian ports last month.
The M/V Touska, a small container ship operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines — a group long subject to US sanctions — was boarded and seized by American forces on April 19 off Iran’s Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman. US Central Command said at the time that the crew had ignored repeated warnings over a six-hour period and that the vessel was in violation of the blockade. Iran’s Foreign Ministry denounced the seizure as “unlawful” and a breach of international law, while Iranian military officials accused Washington of “armed piracy.” Tehran said the ship had been en route from China.
Andrabi, speaking on the social media platform X, described the crew transfer and planned return of the vessel as coordinated with the support of both the United States and Iran. “Pakistan welcomes such confidence-building measures and will continue to facilitate dialogue and diplomacy while pursuing ongoing mediation efforts for regional peace and security,” he said.
The development followed a Sunday night telephone conversation between Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi. In a separate statement, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said Araghchi had thanked Islamabad for its “constructive role and sincere mediation efforts.” Dar reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to “constructive engagement” and stressed that “dialogue and diplomacy remain the only viable path” to resolving the conflict.
Pakistan has positioned itself as the primary mediator between Washington and Tehran since fighting erupted in February. It hosted the first round of direct talks between the two sides on April 11, which ended without agreement. Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi visited Islamabad twice last month for discussions on regional tensions. A planned visit by a U.S. delegation for a second round of talks was cancelled by the Trump administration.
On Sunday, Trump said the United States would begin assisting vessels trapped in the Gulf under an initiative he described on Truth Social as “Operation Freedom,” which he characterised as a humanitarian effort to aid crews running low on food and supplies. “We have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” he wrote.
US Central Command said the operation would involve 15,000 American military personnel, more than 100 land- and sea-based aircraft, warships and drones, with the goal of restoring freedom of navigation for commercial shipping. The International Maritime Organization has estimated that hundreds of ships and as many as 20,000 seafarers have been unable to move through the strait since the conflict began.
Iran responded sharply to Trump’s announcement. Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the national security commission in Iran’s parliament, warned Monday on X that any American interference in the Strait of Hormuz would constitute a violation of the existing ceasefire. Iranian officials have asserted that Tehran controls the waterway and that vessels not affiliated with the United States or Israel may pass only after paying a toll — a position that directly challenges long-standing international guarantees of freedom of navigation.
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