The story begins at a border crossing, where men who had spent weeks at sea finally stepped onto home soil. On Monday, Iranian sailors evacuated to Pakistan after their release by the United States made it back across the border and into Iran, state media reported.
According to the IRNA news agency, 15 of the 22 sailors used the Rimdan border terminal in Sistan-Baluchistan to cross. They were the crew of the M/V Touska, a small Iranian container ship boarded and seized by US forces off the coast of Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman on April 19.
What unfolded in the days between was a gesture of de-escalation. Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the 22 crew members had been evacuated to Pakistan as a “confidence-building measure” by the United States. The sailors, flown in the previous night, would be “handed over to the Iranian authorities today,” spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said.
For those involved, the return carried political weight. Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said the developments “surely constitute an important confidence-building measure,” and that Islamabad remained “committed to facilitating dialogue, diplomacy, and mediation” for regional peace. The ship itself was being backloaded to Pakistani waters for return to its owners after repairs.
At its heart is a wider standoff. The Touska, part of the US-sanctioned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, was seized after its crew allegedly “failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period.” Tehran condemned the seizure as “unlawful and a violation” of international law and accused Washington of “armed piracy.” Six other passengers, family members of the crew, had already been transferred to a regional country a week earlier.
The handover lands amid a fragile truce. As many as 20,000 seafarers on hundreds of ships are still unable to transit the Strait of Hormuz, and a senior Iranian official has warned that any American interference in the strait would be “considered a violation of the ceasefire.”
Sources
- Iranian sailors evacuated to Pakistan return home, state media confirms – World – DAWN.COM
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