In brief: Iran releases cargo ship
TEHRAN, Iran – A Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship seized by Iran has been released and the crew members are all in good condition, according to the ship’s operator.
Rickmers Ship Management told the Associated Press in an email Thursday that the MV Maersk Tigris was released following a court order. It will now continue its scheduled voyage to Jebel Ali, in the United Arab Emirates, where it will be met by representatives from Rickmers and others.
Iranian forces seized the ship April 28 as it traversed the Strait of Hormuz. It was taken to Bandar Abbas, the main port of Iran’s navy, under escort by Iranian patrol boats.
Iran claimed that the Danish shipping company that chartered the ship, Maersk Line, owed money to an Iranian firm. Rickmers spokesman Cor Radings would not comment on whether any money was paid to settle the case with Iran, saying in a telephone interview from Amsterdam “that is up to Maersk and the Iranian authorities, our responsibility is with the vessel and crew.”
He said his company had confirmed that the ship had left the Iranian port with all 24 crew members on board and all of its cargo, and that it was expected to arrive in Jebel Ali late Thursday night or early this morning.
U.S. bombs IS at Iraqi refinery
WASHINGTON – U.S. warplanes have bombed a besieged Iraqi refinery more than two dozen times in recent days as American special forces helped Iraqi soldiers airdrop food, water and other supplies to Iraqi troops trapped in the complex.
News of the airdrop at a Pentagon briefing appeared to confirm reports that Islamic State militants have blocked ground access to the country’s biggest oil refinery, in the city of Baiji, about 145 miles north of Baghdad.
“The Iraqis are under pressure there and have lost some control of the perimeter and some of the road network that leads to it,” Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday at a news conference at the Pentagon.
One day after U.S. military officials downplayed the significance of the Baiji refinery, which produced 40 percent of the country’s oil before fighting shut it down last summer, Dempsey reaffirmed its strategic priority.
“It’s a part of Iraq’s critical oil infrastructure,” Dempsey said. “It sits on the corridor that runs from Baghdad to … Baiji, Kirkuk, and over to Mosul. It actually also sits on a corridor that runs from the Tigris River valley to the Euphrates River valley. And so it’s geographically significant as well as significant economically. So it is a very important place.”
Ex-police official arrested
MEXICO CITY – Mexican authorities say they have captured a former police official implicated in the disappearance of 43 teachers’ college students last year.
A government statement said Francisco Salgado Valladares had been hiding in the homes of relatives in the states of Guerrero and Morelos. It said investigators learned the family was getting together in the city of Cuernavaca and detained him in a vehicle that was approaching the gathering.
Thursday’s statement said Salgado Valladares is suspected of kidnapping and organized crime.
As deputy chief for operations in the city of Iguala, Salgado Valladares allegedly ordered police to hand 13 of the missing students over to a drug gang in September.