Saudi Arabia taking Iranian oil tanker 'hostage'
Tehran (KNA) - Iranian officials have warned Saudi Arabia against holding an oil tanker "hostage," describing it as an "illegal seizure" and a case of "ransom-seeking" aimed at gaining concessions from Iran.
On May 2, Saudi Arabia announced its coast guard had rescued a distressed Iranian oil tanker, named Happiness I, with 26 on board off the Red Sea port of Jeddah, after it faced "engine failure and the loss of control."
Two months on, despite being fixed, Saudis are refusing to let the vessel leave, and at the same time charge Iran $200,000 a day for maintaining the vessel in Jeddah.
"The Saudi government first showed good behavior: it provided the damaged vessel with technical assistance, and the crew members with food packages, but it has refused to give any help in the past few weeks," said Iranian lawmaker Jalal Mirzaei on Wednesday.
Mohammad-Javad Jamali Nobandegani, a deputy chairman of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, believes the Saudi government is trying to use the oil tanker as a "hostage".
"Saudi Arabia's refusal to discharge the Iranian vessel in the Arab country is a sort of ransom-seeking and hostage-taking. I think Saudis want to use the situation to take revenge for the damages they have suffered in such places as Yemen," he noted.
Source: PressTV