Soviets Protest Seizure; Iran Releases Ship

The Soviet Union has made a muted protest to Iran in connection with the boarding of a Soviet freighter in the Persian Gulf, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

A ministry spokesman, Gennady I. Gerasimov, said the ship, the 11,750-ton Pyotr Yemtsov, has been released and the issue is all but closed. The Soviets’ temperate response may indicate the government’s unwillingness to set back its relations with Iran, which have improved slightly in recent months as Iran has agreed to resume natural gas sales to Moscow.

The Iranian navy halted the freighter Tuesday, went on board and escorted it to an Iranian port, Bandar Abbas, to search for possible arms and war-related goods that might be headed for Iraq, Iran’s adversary in a six-year-old war. A senior Iranian navy official in Tehran said Thursday that the freighter was free to go after its cargo was inspected.

Cement on Board

Gerasimov told a press briefing Wednesday that the Pyotr Yemtsov’s cargo was cement en route to Kuwait.

In a Thursday briefing, he said that one of the freighter’s engines was damaged in maneuvering in the course of the incident. He said the ship was being towed by another Soviet ship, the Rubezhnaya, to an unspecified port for repairs.

Gerasimov reiterated that “our ship was in international waters,” and added: “To stop a commercial ship on the open sea is inadmissible, contrary to the freedom of navigation. The Iranians boarded the ship and we lodged a protest, but the question is almost closed.”