News - Middle East: Iran has released a foreign-flagged tanker it seized in the Persian Gulf last week after offloading its cargo, a report has said.

The Wednesday report by the Associated Press said that Iran had released Talara, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, earlier in the day, adding that the ship was moving away from Iranian waters.

The report cited satellite imagery showing that the cargo of the ship had been offloaded on Tuesday before it was allowed to leave Iranian ports.

The vessel’s manager, the Columbia Shipmanagement, said that Iranian authorities had made no allegations against Talara, its crew, or its managers and owners.

The Cyprus-based company said all 21 crew members were returning safely from Iran and the ship was now free to resume its normal operations.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) intercepted Talara on Friday outside of Iran’s territorial waters, saying it had been carrying unauthorized cargo.

IRGC said in a statement that the seizure had been carried out under a court order, adding that its forces escorted the vessel and its cargo of 30,000 metric tons of petrochemical materials to an anchorage for investigation into its violations.

Iran’s Fars news agency, which is close to the IRGC, said in a report on Saturday that an Iranian entity was behind the illegal transportation of the petrochemical cargo aboard Talara.

It quoted sources as saying that the seizure was not directed at any foreign country or party and was carried out solely to protect Iran’s national interests and recover the country’s lost property.

Reports on Friday had said that the ship was carrying a cargo of high-sulfur gasoil through the Indian Ocean en route to Singapore from Sharjah in the UAE when it was confiscated by the IRGC.

Press TV