LONDON (Reuters) - The ship manager for the container vessel boarded by Iranian forces declined to comment on the status of the vessel on Tuesday.

The Pentagon said earlier that the Marshall Islands-flagged Maersk Tigris was boarded by Iranian forces in the Gulf.

The Maersk Tigris is managed by Singapore-based Rickmers Ship Management, which is part of Hamburg-based Rickmers Group. A Rickmers Group spokeswoman declined to comment when contacted by Reuters about the vessel.

A spokesman for the world's biggest container group Maersk Line said the vessel was on timecharter to Maersk Line, declining further comment.

Ship tracking data on Reuters showed the vessel was bound for Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates, although it was still close to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas at 1530 GMT (1130 ET) on Tuesday. Its previous port was listed as Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Janet Lawrence)