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Iran has seized an oil tanker heading for Turkey in retaliation for the ‘theft’ of its oil from the identical vessel final 12 months by the US, based on the nation’s state media.
Armed males stormed the Greek-owned, Marshall Islands-flagged St Nikolas off Oman on Thursday and altered course in the direction of Bandar-e Jask in Iran, based on a British navy company.
America slammed the ‘illegal seizure’ and demanded Iran ‘instantly launch’ the ship and its 19 crew.
4 or 5 ‘unauthorized boarders are reported to be sporting military-style black uniforms with black masks’, the UK Maritime Commerce Operations (UKMTO) mentioned.
Communications have been misplaced with the vessel, which was carrying 18 Filipinos and one Greek crew member, the tanker’s Greece-based administration firm Empire Navigation mentioned.
Iran seized the St Nikolas oil tanker off Oman on Thursday in retaliation to the ‘theft’ of its oil from the identical vessel by the US final 12 months, state media mentioned
US officers beforehand seized a million barrels of Iranian crude oil aboard the identical vessel as a part of sanctions in opposition to Tehran’s nuclear program
A map exhibiting the area across the Gulf of Oman the place the oil tanker St Nikolas was seized by the Iranian navy
Iran’s navy later confirmed it seized the ship, which was beforehand referred to as Suez Rajan.
The vessel was embroiled in a yearlong dispute starting in 2021 that in the end noticed the U.S. Justice Division take a million barrels of Iranian crude oil on it amid sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program
‘The Navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran seized an American oil tanker within the waters of the Gulf of Oman in accordance with a courtroom order,’ the official IRNA information company mentioned.
The seizure was in retaliation for ‘violation dedicated by the Suez Rajan ship… and the theft of Iranian oil by the US’, IRNA mentioned.
Iran has responded with tit-for-tat measures previously after seizures of Iranian oil shipments.
Crippling US sanctions, reimposed following Washington’s 2018 withdrawal from a landmark nuclear deal, goal Iranian oil and petrochemical gross sales in a bid to cut back Iran’s power exports.
‘The Iranian authorities should instantly launch the ship and its crew,’ US State Division spokesman Vedant Patel instructed reporters.
‘This illegal seizure of a industrial vessel is simply the most recent behaviour by Iran or enabled by Iran aimed toward disrupting worldwide commerce.’
Ambrey, a British maritime danger firm, mentioned the group which boarded the St Nikolas lined the ship’s cameras. A safety officer ‘reported listening to unknown voices over the cellphone together with the grasp’s voice’, it added.
The vessel had been loaded with 145,000 tonnes of crude oil in Basra, Iraq and was destined for Aliaga in Turkey by way of the Suez Canal, Empire added.
The vessel had been loaded with 145,000 tonnes of crude oil in Basra, Iraq and was destined for Aliaga in Turkey by way of the Suez Canal
Iran mentioned the ship is being ‘transferred to the ports of the Islamic republic for supply to the judicial authorities’
Ambrey mentioned the just lately renamed tanker was beforehand prosecuted and fined for carrying sanctioned Iranian oil, which was confiscated by US authorities.
IRNA, quoting the Iranian navy’s public relations workplace, mentioned the ship was ‘being transferred to the ports of the Islamic republic for supply to the judicial authorities’.
In September, the US mentioned it had seized the Suez Rajan and its cargo of 980,000 barrels of crude oil months earlier.
The US Division of Justice mentioned on the time that the oil on the Greek-managed tanker was allegedly being bought by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to China.
Shortly after that seizure, Iran seized two tankers, the Marshall Islands-flagged Benefit Candy because it sailed towards the US within the Gulf of Oman, after which the Greek-owned Niovi, because it travelled from Dubai to Fujairah.
The Gulf of Oman, a key route for the oil trade that separates Oman and Iran, has witnessed a sequence of hijackings and assaults over time, typically involving Iran.
Delivery within the resource-rich area can also be on heightened alert following weeks of drone and missile assaults within the Purple Sea by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
