Crew of captured British oil tanker safe: Iranian official

All 23 crew members of the seized British oil tanker "Stena Impero" are "safe and in good health," the head of the Ports and Maritime Organisation of Iran told Iranian state TV on Sunday.

Despite being escorted by a British warship, the oil tanker was stopped on Friday by Iran and was led to the coastal harbour for a legal investigation, Xinhua news agency quoted Iran's IRNA news agency as saying.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) seized the British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz for what it called "failing to respect the international maritime rules while passing through the strait."

The tanker has crew members of Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino nationalities aboard.

The spokesman for the IRGC has condemned the British oil tanker's action on Saturday, saying there was a risk of collision because of the tanker's wrong direction, adding that Iran is acting legally and within the bounds of its national sovereignty in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. IANS