A day after US Army officials claimed that the 15 British marines, detained by Iran, were checking an Indian-flagged vessel with a consignment of cars in the disputed Shatt al-Arab waterway last week when the Iranian navy seized them, the Indian government has disputed the claim, though it is still trying to get the ‘details’.

“We have not found any truth so far in the claim that the ship in question was an Indian-flagged vessel. We have a scanning system that can track the location of all registered Indian vessels in international waters and there may be a few Indian ships around the said waters. But there is no proof yet to establish that the British marines were on board an Indian ship when they were detained. Further investigations are being done,” Shipping Secretary A K Mahapatra said.

Soon after the reported involvement of an Indian ship in the Iran-Britain face-off over the detained British marines, the government had sought information from its embassies in Iran and Iraq. “Iran says the vessel was in its waters, Iraq claims the vessel was in their territory. But we have not got any details yet,” Mahapatra said.

However, the Shipping Secretary added, “the US has got the details and had informed Britain about it (the British operation may have been conducted on the basis of this in the first place), but are not disclosing them.” The Indian Embassy in Washington has been requested to seek details from the US administration. Foreign Ministry sources confirmed that the Indian Embassy at Tehran had no information yet on the vessel or its whereabouts.

... contd.