Five of the captured sailors in Iran set to return home this week

Five of the Indian sailors detained in Iran have received air tickets to fly home, sources informed on Monday. Iran continues to hold 30 Indian sailors from two foreign flagged vessels as negotiations are on to bring them back to India.

“We have learnt that Iran will allow five Indian sailors of MT Riah to return by July 26-27. The five men have been given tickets to fly home and we expect other sailors to be freed soon,” said a source familiar about the bilateral discussions.

Iran is holding Indian sailors who were aboard the

MT Riah and

Stena Impero , two ships that were detained by the Iranian military. Sources said that while Iran has begun to process the release of sailors of

MT Riah , it is yet to respond to India’s

note verbale on the sailors of

Stena Impero , the British-flagged vessel that was detained in a tit- for-tat move by the Iranians against the United Kingdom which had seized an Iranian vessel

Grace 1 near Gibraltar earlier.

The fate of

MT Riah was initially unknown as the ship went missing for a while. However, Iran was in touch with Indian diplomats regarding the presence of Indian nationals on board.

The tanker war between Iran and the US-UK combine has escalated in recent weeks which has added to insecurities around the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. India had earlier stated that officials are ascertaining the exact situation, as the Iranians assured them of proper treatment of the captured sailors.