AHVAZ, Khuzestan Province Cleanup operations to check the oil slick in the Persian Gulf caused by the sinking of an oil tanker loaded with smuggled Iraqi oil ended Wednesday, announced the provincial Ports and Shipping Department.

The report further added that the operations were successfully conducted through unsparing efforts of the personnel of the various navigation and diving units of the department.

However, operations are still underway to clean slicks in the Khoor Mussa waterway at Bandar Imam Khomeini, the report said, adding that the operations would be concluded in the near future, IRNA reported.

Meanwhile, the marine crisis headquarters of the department plans to unload the remaining oil in the tanker and transfer it to Bandar Imam Khomeini.

So far 200 tons of oil-water mixture has been collected and large slicks of oil have been removed from the surface with the help of chemicals.

According to the department's Public Relations Office, since the tanker has capsized on its left side, for the time being it is not possible to announce the cause of incident.

It was stated earlier that the Honduras-flagged Georgios was carrying almost 1,900 tons of Iraqi crude when it was intercepted on July 10. It sank on Sunday after being detained for more than four weeks.

The slick was concentrated on an area of 2.5 miles (four kilometers) in length and between a quarter and a half mile (less than one kilometer) wide close to Iran's (offshore) Cyrus oil field.

The ship's unidentified owners have charged that the U.S. Navy sank the vessel intentionally following an argument between the captain and an inspection party, which escaped unharmed when the vessel sank.

A U.S.-led multinational naval force patrols Persian Gulf waters to enforce a U.N. embargo slapped on Iraq for invading Kuwait in August 1990.