Stena Bulk chief executive Erik Hanell has personally asked Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to release the seized tanker Stena Impero and its crew.

The pair met in Stockholm on Tuesday while Zarif was in Sweden for bilateral talks with the Swedish foreign minister. They were discussing regional and international issues, including security of the Persian Gulf.

The 50,000-dwt Stena Impero (built 2018) has been held in Bandar Abbas since July 19 in what appeared a tit-for-tat reprisal from Iran for the UK’s arrest of the 300,000-dwt VLCC Grace 1 (built 1997).