In this handout photo, government personnel, including from the Department of Migrant Workers, assist OFW returnees from Israel on Novermber 23, 2023. DMW Facebook page

MANILA — The Department of Migrant Workers assured full government support and assistance for four Filipino seafarers who are among the crew of MSC Aries, which Iranian forces seized near the Strait of Hormuz.

The Department of Foreign Affairs had been trying to confirm whether any Filipinos were on the ship, which Iran reportedly seized in response to an Israeli attack on its consulate in Syria.

With the Filipino crew members' presence on board confirmed, the DMW said government is working towards their release.

"Upon directive of the President, we are in touch with the families of our dear seafarers and have assured them of full government support and assistance," DMW said.

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It added that it is coordinating with the DFA as well as the seafarers' manning agency and MSC Aries' ship manager and operator "to ensure the safety and well-being, as well as the release, of our dear seafarers."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized a container ship "related to the Zionist regime (Israel)" in the Gulf on Saturday, state media reported, with tensions soaring in the region.

The ship's operator, the Italian-Swiss group MSC, later confirmed Iranian authorities had boarded it.

Israel called it "a pirate operation" and demanded that the Guards be declared a "terrorist organization" by the European Union.

Some Filipino crew members of an oil tanker that Iran seized in January in response to the US seizure of crude from Iran on the same vessel in 2023 were sent back to the Philippines in March.