The Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz on July 20. Photo: Sky News via Youtube

A Swedish-owned oil tanker held by Iran in the Gulf is to be released, the shipowner said on Sunday, two months after it was seized amid heightened tensions in the region.

“We received information this morning indicating that the ship Stena Impero is going to be released in a few hours,” Erik Hanell, the chief executive of the Stena Bulk company that owns the ship, told Swedish television SVT.

Contacted by AFP, Stena Bulk spokeswoman Lena Alvling confirmed Hanell’s remarks but said, several hours later, that the ship had still not been freed.

“We have nothing new to report,” she said.

The ship has been held offshore near Iran’s southern port of Bandar Abbas.

Hanell had expressed caution about the tanker’s release.

“We understand that the political decision has been taken to release the ship,” he told SVT.

– AFP

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