FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2012 file photo, a plane flies over the mountains in south of the Strait of Hormuz as the trading dhows and ships are docked on the Persian Gulf waters near the town of Khasab,... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2012 file photo, a plane flies over the mountains in south of the Strait of Hormuz as the trading dhows and ships are docked on the Persian Gulf waters near the town of Khasab,... (Associated Press) 
 
 BERLIN (AP) — The operator of cargo vessel boarded by Iranian forces as it was traversing the Strait of Hormuz said Wednesday it has confirmed the crew is safe. Iran meanwhile downplayed the political significance of the seizure, saying it was taken because the company that chartered it owed a local firm money. 
 
 The Marshall Islands-flagged MV Maersk Tigris was taken Wednesday to Bandar Abbas, the main port for Iran's navy, under escort by Iranian patrol boats, according to Maersk Line, the Danish shipping company that had chartered it. 
 
 The incident comes at a critical time in Iran's relations with the United States and the West, as talks about its contested nuclear program continue and frictions rise as U.S.-ally Saudi Arabia leads an airstrike campaign against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen. 
 
 Speaking in New York, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the ship's seizure had "nothing to do with Yemen" and was strictly a legal case. 
 
 "I think we should not read too much into it," Zarif said. The Iranian Port and Maritime Organization also released a statement saying that Maersk Line owed an Iranian oil company financial damages from an Iranian court ruling. 
 
 Maersk Line spokesman Michael Storgaard said in a statement that Iranian authorities told it the ship's seizure related to "an allegedly unresolved cargo claim." 
 
 "We have, however, not received any written notification or similar pertaining to the claim or the seizure of the vessel," Storgaard said. "''We are therefore not able to confirm whether or not this is the actual reason behind the seizure." 
 
 Cor Radings, a spokesman for the ship's operator, Rickmers Ship Management in Singapore, which is part of a Hamburg-based shipping group, said his company had no known issues itself with Iran and that only Maersk Line could comment on the Iranian claim. 
 
 Radings said his company had been in touch by phone with the crew during the day on Wednesday. 
 
 "We have had the confirmation that they are in relatively good condition and safe on board the ship," he said. 
 
 Iranian forces remain on board the ship, Radings said, adding that Rickmers had not been in contact with Iranian authorities. 
 
 Iranian forces boarded the MV Maersk Tigris on Tuesday after firing warning shots across the bridge, prompting the U.S. Navy to dispatch a destroyer and a plane to the area in response. 
 
 Radings identified the ship's 24 crew members as "mainly from Eastern Europe and Asia." Iranian state television on Tuesday said the crew members were from Britain, Bulgaria, Romania and Myanmar. Romania's Foreign Ministry confirmed four of the sailors were its citizens, declining to elaborate due to privacy laws. 
 
 Maersk chartered the container ship from Rickmers and was hauling commercial goods and had no "special cargo" such as military equipment, said Radings, speaking by phone from Spain. 
 
 U.S. firm Oaktree Capital, a global investment company based in Los Angeles, declined to comment when asked about a shipping industry magazine's report that it owned the MV Maersk Tigris and referred any questions to Radings. Radings would only say the ship was owned by "private investors" and would not elaborate. 
 
 The U.S., other world powers and Iran are trying to hammer out a final deal over Iran's nuclear program. Last week, the U.S. Navy dispatched an aircraft carrier and guided missile cruiser to the Arabian Sea amid worries that a convoy of Iranian cargo ships was headed to Yemen to deliver arms to the Shiite rebels fighting to take over Yemen. 
 
 In Tuesday's incident, the intercepted ship was traveling through the narrow Strait, which is technically Iranian and Omani territorial waters, but under international agreement is open to foreign ships making an innocent passage, according to the Pentagon. 
 
 The Strait of Hormuz is the route for about a fifth of the world's oil and is only about 33 kilometers (21 miles) wide at its narrowest point. Ships traversing the chokepoint have even less room to maneuver. The shipping lane in either direction is only 2 miles wide, with a 2-mile buffer zone between them. 
 
 U.S. Navy officials said Tuesday that several Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy vessels had surrounded a U.S.-flagged cargo ship, the Maersk Kensington, last Friday as it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz. No shots were fired, the Iranian vessels broke off contact, allowing the cargo ship proceeded without further incident, they said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran, Chris Chester in New York and Alison Mutler in Bucharest, Romania, contributed to this story. 

 NEW YORK (AP) — Iran's foreign minister says his country and world powers will meet Thursday to start bringing together the elements of a draft on a comprehensive nuclear deal. 
 
 (Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.) 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT (Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.) 
 
 Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is interviewed by David Ignatius of the Washington Post, during his appearance, hosted by the Center on International Cooperation, at New York University,... (Associated Press) 
 
 CORRECTS SPELLING OF ZARIF - Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left, is interviewed by David Ignatius of the Washington Post during his appearance, hosted by the Center on International Cooperation,... (Associated Press) 
 
 CORRECTS SPELLING OF ZARIF - Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, is greeted by moderator David Ignatius of the Washington Post, as he arrives for his appearance, hosted by the Center... (Associated Press) 
 
 Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is interviewed by David Ignatius of the Washington Post, during his appearance, hosted by the Center on International Cooperation, at New York University,... (Associated Press) 
 
 An audience member holds up a sign during an interview with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left, by David Ignatius, of the Washington Post, hosted by the Center on International Cooperation... (Associated Press) 
 
 He also says meetings will start on Monday in Europe to finalize all its elements. 
 
 Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told an event in New York that even though Iran certainly wants to meet the June 30 deadline for an agreement, "no time deadline is sacrosanct." 
 
 He spoke after meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday. 
 
 Zarif says Iran expects U.N. sanctions to be lifted within a few days of a deal. 
 
 And he expects President Barack Obama will have to stop implementing the U.S. sanctions on his country. Zarif says, "How he does is his problem." 

 Danish shipping company Maersk said on Wednesday the crew of the Maersk Tigris container ship were safe and "in good spirits" after Iranian authorities seized the ship in the Strait of Hormuz the previous day. 
 
 Maersk, the world's largest container shipping concern, said it was in dialogue with the Danish Foreign Ministry and seeking more information as it still did not know the reason for the seizure of the vessel. 
 
 Iranian patrol boats intercepted the cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz and fired warning shots, raising tensions in one of the world's busiest oil shipping lanes and spurring the United States to send military vessels to monitor the situation. 
 
 Maersk said the vessel was diverted in international waters. 
 
 Iranian authorities quoted by official media said the Maersk Tigris was seized in Iranian territorial waters. 
 
 Complaint about debts 
 
 Iranian media cited an official as saying the seizure followed a court order ruling on a complaint about debts made by a private Iranian company. 
 
 "We are in ongoing contact with Rickmers Shipmanagement and are pleased to learn that the crew (are) safe and under the circumstances in good spirits," Maersk said in a statement. 
 
 "We are continuing our efforts to obtain more information about the Iranian authorities' seizure - in international waters - of Maersk Tigris. We are not able at this point to establish or confirm the reason behind the seizure." 
 
 The 65,000-ton Maersk Tigris, flagged in the Marshall Islands, is managed and crewed by Rickmers Shipmanagement but on hire to Maersk Line, the shipping unit of Maersk. Rickmers said there were 24 crew, mostly from eastern Europe and Asia. 
 
 The Danish Foreign Ministry said it was monitoring the situation closely and was in contact with Maersk. 
 
 The standoff came at a critical juncture in U.S.-Iranian relations, which could thaw should a tentative nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers, including the U.S., be clinched. 
 
 It also coincides with heightened tension between regional arch-rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia over the escalating civil war in Yemen in which they support opposing sides.
– Iran says when it fired warning shots at a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship yesterday before boarding it and hauling it off to an Iranian port, it wasn't about sabre-rattling or political posturing, but rather just a good old-fashioned money dispute. "I think we should not read too much into it," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in New York, where he is set tomorrow to continue talks on a nuclear deal, adding that the seizure had "nothing to do with Yemen." As the AP reports, a statement from Iranian Port and Maritime Organization says the the Maersk Line, the Danish company that chartered the MV Maersk Tigris, owed an Iranian oil company financial damages, per an Iranian court. A Maersk rep refers to the incident as "an allegedly unresolved cargo claim," and says the company has "not received any written notification" as to the cause of the seizure and thus is unable "to confirm whether or not this is the actual reason behind the seizure." Meanwhile, Maersk says in a statement per Voice of America that the 24 crew members aboard are "safe and under the circumstances in good spirits." Iranian authorities remain aboard the Tigris as well.