DUBAI, April 15. /TASS/. Iran has decided to detain The MSC Aries ship bound for Israel due to its violation of maritime law, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanani has said.

"Iran is constantly working to ensure the safety of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. However, the aforementioned vessel was sent to Iran's territorial waters due to its violation of maritime law and for ignoring the requests of the Iranian authorities," he told a news conference broadcast by Iran's SNN TV channel.

As Kanani noted, Iran monitors "all ships in the strategic strait" and prevents violations of the country's sovereignty. Tehran favors "the freedom of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with international norms and will always act in this vein," the Foreign Ministry spokesman added.

On April 13, Iran's IRNA news agency reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC, an elite unit of Iran's Armed Forces) seized the commercial ship MSC Aries in the Strait of Hormuz. According to the Associated Press, the container ship MSC Aries flies the Portuguese flag. The London-based company Zodiac Maritime, which is part of the Zodiac Group of Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer, confirmed to TASS its connection with the seized vessel. According to data available from the MarineTraffic service, the container ship MSC Aries was on its way from the Emirati port of Khalifa to India's Nhava Sheva.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Iran of piracy and violation of international law. He also called on the European Union to recognize the IRGC as a terrorist organization.