Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

India plans to seek arbitration from a third country in the dispute with Tehran over an Indian oil tanker detained by Iranian naval forces for causing widespread pollution in the Persian Gulf, Press TV reported.

According to The Indian Express newspaper, Indian Ambassador to Tehran Shri D.P. Srivastava advised Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh in late August that "arbitration is a better option than bilateral negotiations."

The Indian ambassador later pitched for arbitration in a neutral country, arguing that mutual talks between India and Iran over the seizure of MT Desh Shanti could become "a continuing irritant" in relations between the two countries.

Iran's Navy intercepted the Indian oil tanker MT Desh Shanti, carrying Iraqi oil through the Persian Gulf on its way to India, on August 13. The vessel was carrying 140,000 tons of crude oil from Iraq to India.

Srivastava further noted that direct negotiations between New Delhi and Tehran would also allow the Indian vessel's insurers, Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Club, to escape responsibility on the pretext that it cannot transfer money to Iran to release MT Desh Shanti due to U.S.-led sanctions imposed on Tehran.

India has denied the allegation and according to the ship's owner, state-run Shipping Corp. of India Ltd., the vessel wasn't in Iranian waters when it was detained.

On August 20, India's Directorate General of Shipping sent a delegation including a senior official with the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) and members of Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) to Iran's southern port of Bandar Abbas to inspect MT Desh Shanti technically.

In its statement on the incident, Iran's embassy in India had said the ship's detention was "purely a technical and nonpolitical issue."

According to the embassy, the tanker was detained following a warning from the Marine Emergency Mutual Aid Center, a Bahrain-based organization with a mission to fight marine pollution.

India and Iran haven't made any headway in resolving a dispute over an Indian oil tanker, which has put Tehran at odds with one of the few markets for its oil.

India is one of the few destination countries for Iran's oil as New Delhi and Tehran have worked out a system to skirt Western sanctions whereby India places rupee-denominated payments in an Indian bank to pay for oil. Funds are debited from the account when Iran purchases Indian goods that may include grains, drugs, consumer products and auto parts.