{"id":3744,"date":"2026-05-04T11:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3744"},"modified":"2026-05-04T11:05:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:05:14","slug":"fo-says-22-crew-of-us-held-iranian-vessel-transferred-to-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3744","title":{"rendered":"FO says 22 crew of US-held Iranian vessel transferred to Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>ISLAMABAD: <\/strong>The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday confirmed that 22 Iranian crew members aboard the container ship seized by the United States last month have been evacuated to Pakistan and will be handed over to Iran today as part of a \u201cconfidence-building measure\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs a confidence-building measure by the United States of America, twenty-two crew members held aboard the seized Iranian container ship, \u2018MV Touska\u2019, have been evacuated to Pakistan,\u201d FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said in a post on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Official Press Release <br><br>Pakistan Facilitates Transfer of Iranian Crew Members:<br>\u00a0<br>As a confidence-building measure by the United States of America, twenty-two crew members held aboard the seized Iranian container ship, \u2018MV Touska\u2019, have been evacuated to Pakistan.<br>\u00a0<br>The\u2026<\/p>&mdash; Tahir Andrabi (@TahirAndrabi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TahirAndrabi\/status\/2051190284474839056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 4, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The development comes after a US Central Command (Centcom) spokesperson told ABC News that American forces had transferred the 22 crew members of the Iranian container ship MV Touska to Pakistan for repatriation after the vessel was intercepted while allegedly attempting to breach a US naval blockade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to reports, six other individuals \u2014 identified by Iranian state media as family members of the crew \u2014 had already been relocated to another regional country prior to this transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The MV Touska, operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL), which is under US sanctions, was boarded and seized by US forces off the coast of Iran\u2019s Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US Central Command stated that the vessel\u2019s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period and that the ship was in violation of a US-imposed naval blockade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iran strongly condemned the incident, calling it \u201cunlawful and a violation\u201d of international law, and demanded the immediate release of the ship, its crew members, and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FO spokesperson further confirmed that the crew members were flown to Pakistan last night and are scheduled to be handed over to Iranian authorities today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that the ship itself will also be backloaded into Pakistani territorial waters for return to its original owners after necessary repairs are completed. He noted that these arrangements are being coordinated with the support of both Iranian and US sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The spokesperson further stated that Pakistan will continue to facilitate dialogue and diplomacy, while pursuing its ongoing mediation efforts aimed at promoting regional peace and stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US-Israeli conflict with Iran, which began in February, was suspended four weeks ago after a fragile ceasefire was declared. However, tensions have continued as Washington and Tehran have engaged in naval confrontations and mutual seizures of commercial vessels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pakistan has increasingly emerged as a key mediator between the United States and Iran, with the highest-level talks between the two sides taking place last month in Islamabad. A second round of negotiations has yet to be held as discussions have stalled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday confirmed that 22 Iranian crew members aboard the container ship seized by the United States last month have been evacuated to Pakistan and&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[57,165,35,254],"class_list":["post-3744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan","tag-iran","tag-middle-east-tensions","tag-pakistan","tag-united-states"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FO says 22 crew of US-held Iranian vessel transferred to Pakistan - World Watch Alert<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FO confirms 22 Iranian crew members of seized MV Touska have been evacuated to Pakistan for handover to Iran as part of US confidence-building measures amid ongoing tensions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.worldwatchalert.com\/?p=3744\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FO says 22 crew of US-held Iranian vessel transferred to Pakistan - 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