Iran has released the 5,466-TEU Maersk Tigris, a Marshall-Islands flagged ship and its crew, who were seized on April 28 in the Strait of Hormuz, the vessel's shipmanager said.

The US Navy has now stopped accompanying US flagged ships on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said.

The Maersk Tigris vessel was diverted on April 28 by Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz, "prompting the United States to send vessels to monitor the situation and to accompany US-flagged vessels passing through the strait," reports Reuters.

Iran had said the vessel would be let go once an old debt with the ship’s charterer Maersk Line was settled.

"Rickmers Group is pleased to report today its managed container vessel Maersk Tigris with 24 crew members on board has been officially released by Iranian authorities following an order from the court in Bandar Abbas, Iran," the operator and manager said in a statement.