Saudi Arabia Releases Five Fishermen from Bushehr After One Year

Five fishermen from Bushehr and Genaveh, who were arrested last year by the Saudi Arabian naval guard, were released on Thursday, July 8. According to the IRIB news agency, Abdulali Sayyadi, the director of the Red Crescent Society in Genaveh, stated that these individuals are returning to the port of Genaveh via two routes: Khark Island and the Forouzan oil fields. Sayyadi mentioned that two fishermen from Genaveh, named Abdulghani and Akbar Rahimi, who are father and son, returned from the coastal waters of Khark Island to Genaveh. He also reported that a boat was dispatched to the Forouzan oil fields to bring back three other released fishermen from Bushehr. These fishermen were released while Iranian officials reported that on June 16, an Iranian fisherman was killed in a clash with Saudi border guards. However, on June 19, the Saudi Ministry of Security announced the arrest of three members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who had approached the country's Marjan oil platforms on a boat carrying weapons on June 16. The IRGC denied this accusation. Rasoul Sanaei Rad, the political deputy of the IRGC, stated in an interview with Tasnim News Agency that this claim is 'absolute falsehood' and added, 'This claim lacks any news value and is more akin to a joke or humor.' Majid Aghababayi, the director of border affairs at the Ministry of Interior, said on June 17 that two Iranian fishing boats were off course due to sea waves and were targeted by Saudi border guards. Although there has been a history of Iranian fishermen entering the waters of Gulf countries and being arrested in past years, shooting at fishermen and their deaths in recent years has been unprecedented. In this context, fishing activities in Bushehr province have been 'halted'. Iran denied the arrest of three IRGC members by Saudi Arabia and reacted to the news of the 'killing of a Bushehr fisherman by Saudi border guard gunfire.'