Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has announced that 22 Iranian crew members held aboard the United States–seized container ship MV Touska have been evacuated to Pakistan, in what Islamabad described as a “confidence-building measure by the United States of America”.
The announcement, made in an official statement on Monday 3 November, said the individuals were flown to Pakistan on Sunday night and would be handed over to Iranian authorities. Fifteen of the sailors have since crossed back into Iran, according to Iranian media reports.
“As a confidence-building measure by the United States of America, twenty-two crew members held aboard the seized Iranian container ship, ‘MV Touska’, have been evacuated to Pakistan,” the ministry’s statement read. Islamabad added that the transfers were being coordinated with the support of both the Iranian and US sides.
How the crew transfer happened
US outlet ABC News first reported the transfer on Sunday 2 November, saying US Central Command had aided the operation. “US forces completed the transfer of 22 crew members of MV Touska to Pakistan for repatriation,” CENTCOM spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins told the outlet.
According to the same report, six other passengers had already been transferred to a regional country for repatriation the previous week. Iranian state media later identified those six as family members of several of the crew, who had been aboard the vessel when it was seized.
The handover was announced publicly in Pakistan on Monday. Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi confirmed the evacuation in a post on X, while Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar wrote that he was “pleased to announce” the development, adding that the individuals “were safely flown in Pakistan last night and will be transferred to Iran today”.
Later on Monday, Iran’s Fars news agency — which is close to the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — reported that 15 crew members had arrived back in Iran. The state-run IRNA news agency reported that 15 of the 22 sailors crossed into Iran through the Rimdan border terminal in the Sistan-Baluchistan province, on the Pakistan–Iran frontier.
Why the ship was seized
The MV Touska is a small container ship belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) group, which has been hit with US sanctions. US forces boarded and seized the vessel on 19 April, off the coast of Iran’s Chabahar port in the Gulf of Oman.
At the time, US Central Command said the ship’s crew had failed to comply with repeated warnings issued over six hours, and that the vessel was in violation of a US naval blockade on Iranian ports. Photographs released by the US military showed an American guided-missile destroyer operating alongside the Iranian-flagged vessel in the Arabian Sea.
Iran condemned the interception as “unlawful and a violation” of international law, and demanded the immediate release of the vessel, its sailors and their families. The incident was one of several commercial vessel seizures during a period of naval confrontations between Washington and Tehran.
What happens to the ship now
Islamabad said the vessel itself would also be returned. “The Iranian ship will also be backloaded to Pakistani territorial waters for return to its original owners after necessary repairs,” the Foreign Ministry said.
CENTCOM’s spokesperson confirmed that custody of the ship was being handed back: “Custody of Touska is currently being transferred back to its original ownership after the ship was intercepted and seized when attempting to violate the US naval blockade against Iran,” Captain Hawkins said.
Pakistan framed the episode as a small diplomatic opening. “Pakistan welcomes such confidence-building measures and will continue to facilitate dialogue and diplomacy while pursuing ongoing mediation efforts for regional peace and security,” the Foreign Ministry’s statement read.
The bigger picture
The transfer comes as tensions continue to run high over the Strait of Hormuz. The US-Israeli war on Iran, which began in February 2026, was partly halted about four weeks ago after the countries agreed to a fragile ceasefire — one mediated by Pakistan, according to Al Jazeera’s reporting.
But naval confrontations and seizures of commercial vessels have continued since then. Iran’s military said on Monday that it would attack US forces if they attempted to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz, after US President Donald Trump announced a naval mission, dubbed Project Freedom, to “guide” stranded ships out of the vital waterway. About one-fifth of the world’s oil passed through Hormuz in peacetime, making any disruption a matter of direct concern for Pakistan, which imports much of its fuel through Gulf shipping lanes.
There was no immediate comment from Iranian authorities on the crew transfer itself. Pakistan’s statement, however, signalled that Islamabad intends to keep playing the intermediary role — moving people, ships and messages between Washington and Tehran while the wider dispute remains unresolved.
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