BENGALURU: India has urged Iran to release 17 Indians onboard the cargo vessel seized by the Iranian military, and Tehran was quite responsive, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.

On Saturday, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) seized ‘MSC Aries’ near the Strait of Hormuz. The ship has 17 Indian crew members.

“Yesterday night, I spoke to my Iranian counterpart (Hossein Amir-Abdollahian). I pressed him. I told him there are 17 crew members from India. We are making the point that these people should be released, that they should not be detained,” he told reporters here.

“I’m getting some reports but I want our embassy people to actually go there and meet these people. That will be my first point of satisfaction.”

“Secondly, I would absolutely press for the people to come back to India as quickly as we can and my colleague in the Iranian counterpart was quite responsive. He said okay, I understand it. I will try and do something really good,” Jaishankar added.